Pathes Crossed
by Faery Ears
Summary: Zell and Irvine believe they are meant to be together after love life difficulties, but what will happen to their relationship when an unsuspected and potentially dangerous character comes between them? Shounen ai content. COMPLETE!
1. Part I

**Disclaimer:** In no way at all do I own the ANY of the characters or places in this piece of writing. They are all from the game Final Fantasy VIII, which I do not own. This piece of writing was created ONLY for the reading pleasure of fans everywhere. I make no profit off of this writing whatsoever, and it is completely fictitious.

**A/N:** All I own is the idea for this piece of creative writing, so please don't take it.

-----

In an empty bar in Timber sat a drunken Irvine Kinneas singing to himself (and the bartender) in a rather pathetic manner. "Eigh'y eight bo'les o' Sylkis on da waaaall…" He held the last note before continuing on. "OH! Eigh'y eight bo'les o' Sylkiiiis…"

The bartender glanced over at Irvine with a knowing expression that the man had had a few too many glasses of Sylkis.

" 'Eh man," Irvine held out his empty Sylkis mug and slurred, "wanna fill 'er up?"

The bartender shook his head hopelessly. "Sure, but this it the last one, okay?" He filled up Irvine's mug once more, and leaned forward on the bar counter on his elbows.

" 'Ow much do I owe ya?" Irvine reached for his wallet to pay the bartender for all of the drinks he had had, but when he reached into his pocket, all he grasped was the material of the inside of his suede pants. He wore a blank, almost stunned, expression for a moment and the bartender knew that he wasn't going to be paid for the drinks he had served once again.

The bartender wasn't surprised. It wasn't the first time that the man had not been able to pay for his drinks. He pushed himself off of the counter and went to wiping some glasses.

"I'm s'rry, maaaan," Irvine said almost incoherently. "You'll 'afta put 'er on muh tab."

-----

"Excuse me! Pardon me! Look out! MOVE!!!" The head of Zell Dincht could hardly been seen over the massive crowd of students waiting, in a not-so-orderly fashion, for the ever-so-popular hotdogs that were served in the Balamb Garden cafeteria.

"Hey!" shouted a girl waiting her turn for a hotdog when Zell was accidentally pushed into her by the crowd that was pushing him from behind to get closer. Zell smiled nervously and shook his head at a lack of words, trying to prove to the girl that it had been the students behind him that had pushed him into her, and that he wasn't trying to feel her up.

Zell side-stepped to the right and stood on tip-toe to try and see around the tall Trepe Groupie in front of him. "Ugh!" Zell hunched and folded his arms in front of him.

"Settle down, man." Zell looked up to see that the Trepe Groupie was talking to him. "We're all waiting for hotdogs too, so you'd better get comfy." The boy turned his back to Zell again, and Zell thought that he should give the guy a good shove, but instead his eye caught the clock on the wall. He had already been there for over twenty-five minutes! How much longer would it take? The crowd had already gone way out the cafeteria doors behind him.

-----

The bartender took Irvine's empty Sylkis mug from the bar top.

"Jus' one mo'e," Irvine pleaded, holding up two fingers.

The bartender snorted. "No way, you've had way more than your fill. Besides, all my bottles of Sylkis are gone. You've cleaned me out."

-----

"Wha-da-ya mean they're all gone?" Irvine and Zell exclaimed at the exact same moment in time, even though they weren't even near each other, or complaining about the same thing in the least.

-----

Zell pounding his fist onto the counter. He had finally managed to push his way to the front of the crowd, but for what? All the hotdogs had been sold out.

-----

The bartender was startled by Irvine's sudden outburst of rage. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

-----

Zell took his fist off the counter. "Tch! Fine."

-----

Irvine took out the keys to his rental car, which were immediately seized by the bartender. "Maybe you should find a place around here to stay for the night," he suggested. "I'll give you back your keys in the morning."

Irvine stood up tipsily. "I'll be fine, gimme back muh keys." He took a step away from the bar, only to trip over his feet, causing him to nearly hit the floor, but he caught himself and stood back up.

The bartender opened a safe behind him and put Irvine's keys into it before repeating, "Find a place here for the night."

Irvine took out his riffle and aimed it at the bartender. "Gimme. Back. Muh keys," he said slowly.

"If you shoot me, how will you get your keys out of the safe?"

Irvine thought about this for a moment before lowering his weapon. He turned around. "Fine, but yuh bettah not take muh car any where. 'Sa rental." Irvine straightened his hat and staggered his way toward the door.

-----

All that time spent waiting in the crowd of people for a simple hotdog had now been wasted. Zell fumed from the cafeteria with a hot head. He could have spent all that time training, but it was too late for that. Now he had to hurry now if he were to get to the meeting about protecting the endangered Pupu aliens on time. He couldn't care less about the stupid Pupus, but Selphie had asked him to attend the meeting with her. After all, she was the one running it, and he would feel sorry for her if no body else showed up. If it wasn't that he had been asked by her personally, he wouldn't even bother going himself.

"Zell! There you are!" Rinoa called from behind him.

Zell turned around. "I'm kinda in a hurry," he informed her. He could already tell from the tone in Rinoa's voice that she wanted a favor of him.

"It'll only take a second, I swear." She smiled at him sweetly.

Zell tried to ignore her sickeningly sweet expression by looking over her shoulder. He scratched the back of his head. Then he looked back at Rinoa, who was still waiting for his reply. "Oh, all right! I'll do it! Just stop looking at me like that. ...It's creepy."

Rinoa narrowed her eyes and grinned wickedly. She knew exactly how to get guys to do what she wanted. "Okay, this is what I need you to do."

-----

Irvine stumbled around Timber for a while, until he was told by a soldier that his presence was upsetting the locals, so Irvine decided it was time to look for a place to stay for the night. It took him a while, but eventually he found himself a place to sleep. Most of the locals wouldn't let him into their homes due to the fact that he held a riffle and was under the influence, and some wouldn't even open up their doors for him, but a kind old man agreed to let Irvine sleep on his porch. He even brought him a pillow and blanket.

Though it was not quite dark outside, Irvine fell asleep almost immediately.

-----

Zell suffered through Selphie's longwinded speech about what could be done to save the Pupu species, and tried to look interested for as long as his attention span could take him. Just when he thought that he was going to scream if he heard the word 'Pupu' again, the meeting ended.

A few people went up to Selphie after the meeting to thank her for her presentation or to offer her some suggests on how the group could help protect the aliens. One person even said that she would let some of her friends know about the meeting and see if they would go with her to the next one.

Zell figured that the girl must have actually meant that she would tell her enemies about the meeting, because who in the world would want to make their friends suffer so much?

When everyone else had left, Zell approached Selphie. "Hey, ya did a really great job," he said, and gave her a pat on her shoulder.

Selphie let out a sigh of relief. "Do you really think so?"

No, thought Zell, but he kept the opinion to himself. "Yeah!"

"I didn't expect for such a big turn out," Selphie said, packing up some of the diagrams that she had used in her presentation. "I was really nervous!" She zipped up her bag and put it over her shoulder, before gathering up her laptop.

"I'll help you with this." Zell grabbed another one of Selphie's bags, and held the door for her on their way out of the meeting room.

Together, Zell and Selphie return all of the supplies to various instructors, until everything was back to its rightful owner. The last thing they returned was a rolled up map which belonged in the library. Zell had meant to talk to Selphie about what Rinoa had said to him before the meeting, but he wasn't quite sure about how to approach Selphie about the situation.

"Thanks for all your help and support, Zell," said Selphie, smiling with appreciation. "Now what are you going to do?"

Zell thought for a moment and in the silence, his stomach growled, and Zell remembered that he still had not eaten yet.

Selphie giggled.

"Well first, I'm gonna find me something to eat." Zell put a hand on his belly. "I'm starved! Wanna come with?"

"Sure!" Selphie exclaimed excitedly. "I'm getting kinda hungry myself."

-----

Halfway through their meals, Zell finally decided it was time to tell Selphie about his talk with Rinoa. "Selphie..." he started.

"Yeah?" she asked happily while munching on her baked potato.

"I was talking with Rinoa earlier today, and-"

"Oh really?" Selphie interrupted him. "How is she doing?"

"Uh..." Zell had prepared in his head exactly what he was going to say to Selphie, but now she had broken his train of thought. "Well I didn't ask her, she seems all right to me, but..."

"Yes?" Selphie urged him to continue.

"She was, uh, telling me about..." He began to blush.

"What is it Zell? What did she tell you about?" Selphie asked through a mouthful of potato.

Zell leaned in closer to Selphie, so that the people sitting at the tables around them wouldn't be able to hear. Selphie leaned in, too. "She told me about you and Seifer."

Selphie choked on her potato and began to cough before turning beet-red. "How much did she tell you about me and Seifer?"

"... Enough." Zell stated simply, not wanting to consciously recall the images back to his mind so soon.

"I'm gonna kill her," Selphie said in a tone that made Zell wonder if she actually was going to murder Rinoa, and if he should tell her. Selphie leaned in closer to Zell again and said in a hushed voice, "if you tell a single soul about Seifer and me, I'll come after you, too." Zell laughed nervously. Yep! He was definitely going to tell Rinoa to steer clear of Selphie.

"Cross my heart," Zell reassured the girl. Like he would go around gossiping about something that he couldn't even fully vocalize. Rinoa was the one who liked to gossip, not him.

Selphie narrowed her eyes at Zell, and stared deep into his eyes as if daring him to tell someone about what had happened. Then... she smiled sweetly again. "Anything else you wanna say?"

"Well... how is Irvine taking it?"

Selphie rolled her eyes. "I really don't want to talk about Irvine right now, okay?" She turned her attention back to her meal.

Zell held his breath. He was about to take a big chance, but he decided that he would be safe... for now, anyway. Selphie wouldn't kill him in front of the other students in the cafeteria... or would she? "Oh, common." Zell urged. "I want to hear the story from you. You don't really want me to go on believing the story in the way that Rinoa told it to me, do ya?"

Selphie turned a redder shade than before. Zell knew that that would get her. Everyone knew how Rinoa liked to exaggerate and juice up stories way beyond the reality of them. Zell prayed that Rinoa would forgive him in the afterlife for what he had just done to provoke Selphie to off her.

Selphie looked up again and met Zell's eyes. "Look," she started, "it was his own damn fault. Irvine never spent any quality time with me, and he made me feel terrible when he would look at every other girl in a way that he never looked at me, so I figured, if he can look at other girls, then I can look at other guys, just as easily. It just so happened that Seifer was there to listen to my story first. At least Seifer actually listens to me when I talk. Like, really listens."

Zell was suddenly thankful that he hadn't been the first one that Selphie told her story to. "So how long were you with Seifer before Irvine found out?"

"About a month," Selphie replied, shoving more food into her mouth and chewing it rather violently. "Now stop asking me questions and eat your meal before it gets cold," she ordered.

Zell reluctantly took a bite of his meal, which was in fact becoming cold. Neither of them said anything for a while, but then Selphie spoke up again. "I mean. It's not like I wanted to cheat on Irvine deliberately. It just, well... happened before I could stop it."

Zell looked confused. "So you didn't want to cheat on Irvine, but then you just suddenly found Seifer all over you?" He immediately regret his words, and prepared to duck out of the way in case Selphie decided to throw her glass of water at him before she could stop that as well.

"You don't understand. It wasn't like that. I loved Irvine at one time, but now I love Seifer." Selphie gave a chuckle. "You couldn't possibly understand the way that I feel, Zell. You've never been in love before have you?"

It was true, Zell had never been in love before, but the way that Selphie had said it made the blond boy suddenly feel very young and inexperienced. It was like there was something missing in his life. Something that all of his other friends had experienced but him. Rinoa and Squall were in love; there was no doubt about that. Quistis wasn't seeing anyone at the moment, but she too had experienced love before. And Selphie... well that was obvious, but Zell... Suddenly, Zell was alone in a world that he shared with no one.

"I'm sorry, Zell," Selphie apologized, seeing the sad look that befell her friend's face. "I didn't mean..."

"Nope," Zell held up his hand to stop her. "That's all right."

"You'll find that special girl someday, Zell," Selphie reassured. "That day just hasn't come yet."

-----

End of Part I.


	2. Part II

**Disclaimer:** In no way at all do I own the ANY of the characters or places in this piece of writing. They are all from the game Final Fantasy VIII, which I do not own. This piece of writing was created ONLY for the reading pleasure of fans everywhere. I make no profit off of this writing whatsoever, and it is completely fictitious.

**A/N:** All I own is the idea for this piece of creative writing, so please don't take it.

-----

Irvine awoke the next morning with a massive headache. Why was he sleeping on a stranger's front porch? He reached into his pocket... no keys. Where were his keys? He thought for a fleeting second that he had been mugged, but then he was struck with the sudden realization of what had happened the previous day.

His heartache hurt, maybe more so than his head, as he recalled the exact moment that he had seen Selphie latch on to Seifer's arm like a giddy child. Then, there was that look on her face when she realized that he was standing there watching him; and Seifer's stupid smirk. He could still hear Selphie's voice echoing in his mind, calling him back as he stormed out of the Garden, saying that she could explain.

What was there to explain? Selphie's actions spoke louder and clearer than anything that she could have said verbally to him. She didn't need to explain anything. Irvine got the message loud and clear; the message that he had failed to make her happy. Irvine put his head into his hands and found it slightly harder to breath.

"Hey there, cowboy." Irvine looked to where the voice was coming from. It was the bartender. "Catch." He tossed a keychain to Irvine, which made a tinkling noise as it flew through the air. Irvine caught it. "How are you feeling?" asked the bartender.

Irvine quickly put on his hat and pulled it down low to cover his stinging eyes from sight. He sniffled and stood up. "I'm-," he stopped to clear his scratchy throat, "I'm all right."

"Are you sure?" asked the bartender. "You were pretty upset last night. I can drive you home if you like."

"No, that's all right," Irvine reassured. "I can't let anything happen to the car. It's a-"

"A rental," the bartender finished the sentence for him. "I know."

"Yeah..." said Irvine, wondering how many times he must have said that to the bartender yesterday.

"Okay then. You drive safe now, and I hope I don't see you at the pub too soon."

Irvine smiled slightly, and watched as the bartender made his way down the road to the pub. Then he picked up his riffle.

"Oh, I see you're awake now," said a man from behind Irvine. "How did you sleep?"

Irvine turned around to see an elderly man folding up the blanket that he had been sleeping under. "Very well," Irvine replied. He thanked the man thoroughly before leaving to his car.

The red sports car, which would cost more money to buy than Irvine could ever hope to have, was parked in a lot outside of Timber. Beside the car was a group of loudly talking females, whom all began to whisper as Irvine got within earshot of them.

"Look at those legs," one girl said loud enough for Irvine to hear. "I'll bet they look even better when he's not wearing those pants."

Normally, Irvine would have made some sort of acknowledgement upon hearing a comment about his body from a lady, but not this day. That was what had gotten him into trouble, and he wasn't about to go and get lucky so quickly this time. First, he needed to collect himself and then he needed to talk to Selphie. That was his plan at least.

Irvine opened the door of his rental and started the car. He was about to step on the gas when someone knocked on the window. He looked over to see one of the ladies that had been whispering about him. She had blonde hair and her chest was ample. Irvine rolled down the window, but avoided looking at the girl again. "Yes?"

"I've been looking for a cowboy. I've got some cows that need milking. Do you think you could help me out?" she added a little pout. "Please?"

"I'm in a hurry," Irvine replied.

"Oh..." said the girl. "It'll only take a few minutes though."

Irvine looked at the lady. Then at her friends, who all tilted their heads to the side and waved 'innocently'.

"Sorry." Irvine rolled the window back up and drove out of the parking lot. This was the exact reason why Selphie had left him in the beginning. Was it so bad wanting to look at other women? He had eyes for everyone, but Selphie was the only girl that he wanted to be with. She obviously didn't feel that was about him, though.

-----

Zell awoke to an impatient knocking on his bedroom door. He rolled over lazily to look at his clock. 11:08am. The person knocked again. "Ugh!" Zell sat up. Who was knocking on his door at such an early hour? Didn't 'Sunday the Day of Rest' mean anything to them? He kicked his feet out of bed, stood up, and taking a few steps toward the door, fell flat on his face. He looked down at his feet to see that they were still tangled up in his blanket. "This is going to be a bad day," Zell lamented.

There was another knock on the door. "I'm coming!" Zell's voice escalated. He realized that he, himself, was a pretty impatient person, but the person at his door was insufferable! Zell kicked his feet free, hoped up, and jogged to the door. He swung it open to find, "Irvine! What are you doing here?"

Irvine removed his hat, and Zell could see that his eyes were all red and puffy. "I'm sorry for waking you up - I know you like to sleep in on Sundays - but is it all right if I come in? I didn't know where else to go."

Zell stood stunned in the doorway for a moment. "Uh, yeah, sure. Common in." Zell's dorm room wasn't exactly big, and the mess that Zell had lying about didn't help to make the room any bigger, but there was just enough room for Irvine to stand. "Can I get you anything to drink?" offered Zell.

"No thanks," replied Irvine.

"Okay," said Zell, which was the last thing that was said for a very long while.

Judging by the silence, Irvine assumed that everyone already knew about what had happened between him and Selphie, and if she had talked to Rinoa at all, he was sure that the whole Garden was well aware of the fact that Selphie was now with Seifer instead of him. And now, here he sat in the middle of Zell's messy dorm room, placing the entire burden on poor Zell.

But seriously, where else was he to go? Squall's room? The guy was nearly emotionless and had spent far too much time with Rinoa to give him any helpful advice about trouble with girls. Or Quistis? No, he was pretty sure that she had a crush on him, so he wanted to stay well away from her and her influential/authoritarian ways. It was Zell or no one.

Zell walked awkwardly to his small couch and sat down. The old springs of the couch squeaked as he shifted his weight around, trying to find a comfortable position in the eerily quiet atmosphere of the room. "You can sit down if you want," offered Zell. "Stay a while."

With slightly slouched posture, Irvine carefully stepped around objects on the messy floor and flopped down on the squeaky couch beside Zell. He kept his eyes lowered to the floor.

Zell glanced at his friend, and then away. "Uh..." He tried to think of something to say to the guy. Then he glanced back at Irvine; his eyes were still staring at the floor. Zell looked away again. Irvine and Selphie had separated temporarily before because of miner things, but Irvine had never come looking for anyone's help before, and especially not his. The fact the Irvine was in Zell's dorm now, made Zell feel that things weren't going to get better so quickly this time. "So, how have you been, man? Is there anything I can do for you?" Zell finally asked.

Without warning, Irvine suddenly buried his head into his hands and began to shake.

Zell wasn't sure what he should do. He had never been forced to deal with a crying man before. It wasn't that he thought that men weren't supposed to cry - hell, Zell was the biggest crybaby that he knew! But how was he supposed to go about comforting someone who was so upset? Whenever he was upset, Seifer always made fun of him, but from personal experience, Zell was pretty sure that that wasn't the best way to give someone the feeling of being comforted.

He thought that maybe he should just do nothing, and wait until his friend calmed down some. Zell wracked his brains trying to think of a time when someone comforted him when he was feeling low, and then it came to him. Ma! Ma Dincht was the only person that Zell could clearly remember ever having comforted him. She would take him into her arms and rub his back, and tell him that no matter what happened everything would turn out better in the end.

Well, if it had worked on him, maybe it would work on Irvine. Zell reached over and pulled the taller man into an embrace. Irvine didn't resist Zell and leaned willingly into his chest, and Zell rubbed his back, as Ma had always done for him. "Don't worry, Irvine," said Zell, trying to sound as comforting as possible. "No matter what happens, everything's gonna turn out for the best in the end."

Zell wasn't sure how long they stayed that way for, but when Irvine finally pushed away from him, Zell was sure that he had succeeded in comforting the taller man.

Irvine sniffled and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "I'm sorry," he apologized to Zell, "I didn't mean to be a burden to you."

"Not at all," Zell assured.

"I just- I really need to talk to someone."

Zell nodded his head, even though Irvine still wasn't looking at him. It was his duty as a friend to be of any assistance he could. He placed a reassuring hand on Irvine's shoulder.

Irvine took a deep breath in and held it for a long time. Zell thought that he was gonna pass out, but then he exhaled. "What am I gonna do?" he asked in barely more than a whisper.

The shorter boy didn't know what to say. What could he say? He was inexperienced in the realm of love. He supposed that an apology might be best, but he wasn't sure if an 'I'm sorry' would cut if for Selphie. He had talked to her in person about the situation, and she seemed pretty mad to him.

"She'll never take me back," Irvine went on. "I should have treated her better." He searched the room with his eyes as if looking for an answer that might be hidden somewhere in the mess. "Tomorrow would have been our first year anniversary," he choked.

Seeing Irvine so upset was almost making Zell want to cry. "Maybe she'll still take you back," he suggested, hoping to cheer up his friend.

Irvine shook his head. "I don't deserve to be taken back." He looked away from Zell's staring eyes.

"Of course ya do!" Zell confirmed. "You never actually cheated on Selphie, did ya?"

"No…" Irvine replied, wondering where Zell was going with this.

"See!" Zell stood up. "Selphie may have thought that ya didn't care about her, but in reality, you really did. She just didn't realize it and left you because she must have felt insecure about her relationship with you." Irvine stared up at Zell with a blank expression, and Zell wondered if what he had just said made any sense at all.

"I don't know…" Irvine began, but then Zell interrupted him.

"Just tell her that you're sorry and that you'll treat her better from now on."

"It's not that simple, Zell. What if she doesn't take me back? What if she won't even speak to me? What if she wants to be with Seifer long-term? I don't think I could handle that."

"What if the world ends tomorrow?" Zell retorted. "At least she will know that you are sorry for upsetting her to the extremity of turning to Seifer." Irvine stood up, and Zell knew that he had gotten through to the man because he could swear that he saw the slightest curl in the corner of Irvine's mouth.

"All right," said Irvine, "you've convince me. I'll talk to Selphie about what happened, and see what happened."

"That-a-boy," Zell slapped his friend on the back. "You go tell 'er!" He walked Irvine to the door.

"Thanks, man," Irvine said before leaving.

"Lemme know how it goes, okay?" Zell waved. Irvine nodded and Zell shut the door behind him, but no sooner had he done so when there was another knock on his door. He turned the knob and opened it again to see Irvine.

"I don't know if I can do it…" he said with uncertainty.

"Go on! Get out of here!" Zell shooed him away from his dorm room.

Irvine inhaled and stood up a little taller. "Okay."

-----

End of Part II.


	3. Part III

**Disclaimer:** (see Parts I or II.)

**A/N:** All I own is the idea for this piece of creative writing, so please don't take it.

**To QueenAdreena:** Thank you for giving the 1st review! This update is for you.

-----

Irvine walked swiftly and with confidence down the corridor of Balamb Garden on his way to set things straight with Selphie. Some wildflowers growing in a pot hanging on the ledge of a window caught his eye. He checked to make sure that no one was looking before plucking some to give to Selphie as an offering of piece. He was sure that they would brighten Selphie's mood.

As he approached Selphie's dorm room, Irvine practically had to _force_ himself to keep going. It seemed that his legs were becoming weak and heavy, and he wasn't so sure anymore that this was such a good idea. Not that he had thought that it was a good idea in the beginning, but Zell's confidence in him had been contagious.

When he got to Selphie's dorm room Irvine prepared to knock on the door, hesitated, but knocked anyway.

From inside the room he heard a loud commotion, a curse from Selphie, and then the unlocking of the door.

Selphie poked her head through the crack of the door and adjusted the bath towel, which she had wrapped around herself. Then she looked up to see her ex standing at the door. She narrowed her eyes at the man whom had wronged her. "Oh… It's _you_," she said hatefully.

"Look, Selphie-" Irvine began, but Selphie had already begun to close the door on him. Irvine stuck his cowboy booted foot into the door to stop it from closing. "I think it's really important that we talk," he continued.

"This isn't the best time." Selphie indicated the towel around her. "I just got out of the shower and-"

This time Irvine cut her off. "It'll only take a minute," he promised, and pushed on the door in an attempt to let himself in.

Selphie held the door firmly in place. "No, I'm busy right now," she refused.

"Selphie… I don't want you to have any mistrust in me and-" Irvine could feel the pressure on his foot increase due to Selphie trying to close the door again. "And I got you these flowers-" Irvine held out the pathetic-looking wildflowers that he had picked. They had already begun to wilt.

With every word that came from Irvine's mouth Selphie was becoming more enraged. "You brought me flowers?" she said in fake sweet tone.

Irvine shrugged and nodded his head still holding them out to Selphie, waiting for her to accept them.

"You think that flowers will make up for all the times that I felt ignored?" She furrowed her eyebrows and her complexion began to redden. "All the times that I felt worthless to you? And used by you? Now you want me to just trust you again, like nothing ever happened? Well guess what Mr. I'm-So-Hot-I'm-On-Fire," she put her hand on her hip, "I'm never going to give you any of my trust ever again!"

"Who's there, Selphie?" asked a muffled voice from inside the room.

Irvine's eyes widened. There was someone else in the room with her?

"No one, Seify-pooh," Selphie called into the room. She looked back at Irvine, who was still shocked that Seifer was in her room _right now_. Selphie lowered her voice. "Now you listen to me. I'm with Seifer now and there's nothing that you can say, or do – or pick – that can fix what happened between us."

Irvine watched, horrified, as Selphie finally turned away from him and was able to close the door. He still held the wilting flowers in his hand.

What was he going to do now? His world was nothing without Selphie. Without her, he may as well just curl up and die. Irvine sulked his way back down the hall toward Zell's room. He thought that Zell's plan might actually work and make Selphie take him back, but he guessed the world just didn't work like that.

-----

Zell hopped around various items on his floor to answer the door for the person with the knock so weak that he had hardly heard it at all.

Irvine stood hunched in the doorway and held out his hand with the bunch of wilted flowers in it. "When I die, which will be in about…" Irvine checked his wristwatch, "two minutes and 50… 49… 48… seconds, I would like you to put these flowers on my grave." He turned to leave, but then turned back again. "Oh, and on my headstone tell them to engrave: 'Irvine Kinneas: here he lay, thought he'd live to a ripe old age, but then someone else his lover did take, and he died that day from a broken heartache,' or something like that."

Irvine turned again and walked in a quick and purposeful pace to the place where he planned to leap from the Garden rail and plummet to a heroic death. People would be talking about it for ages! Irvine nodded his head to himself in confirmation with his thoughts. This was the best thing to do – for him _and_ for Selphie.

Zell was still standing stupefied in the dust of Irvine's takeoff before his friend's words finally began to process in his head. Irvine… die… Zell's eyes suddenly widened and he shouted, "two minutes and 48 seconds!"

Several passing students stopped to stare at Zell as he bolted down the hallway past them to catch up with his suicidal friend.

"Irvine! Wait!" Zell shouted down the hallway to the taller man, still running to catch up with him.

Irvine didn't look back and continued to walk with determination.

Zell caught up with Irvine and latched onto his arm like a child not wanting his mother to leave.

Irvine jerked his arm violently in an attempt to lose the shorter boy. "Let go!" he demanded.

"No!" Zell shook his head and held on to the man's arm. "Not until you promise to come back to my room and talk this over."

Irvine tried to loosen his arm again, but it was no use. Zell wasn't going to let go and he knew it. Stupid stubborn blonde, thought Irvine. He sighed heavily. "All right."

"Good," Zell cautiously let go of Irvine's arm. "Quickly now, we have to get back before security sees my room." Zell suddenly remembered that he'd left his dorm in such a hurry that he'd left the door wide open for the world to see. "My room's one big fire hazard."

Irvine nodded his head; there was no point in denying _that_.

-----

Once again, Irvine had been invited into Zell's room. This time Irvine carefully made his way to the squeaky couch on his own without being asked. He flopped down on it as before and bounced up and down on it a little to hear the springs twang from the stress that his weight caused them.

Zell thought that Irvine was enjoying the squeaky noises a little too much, but smiled with relief that his friend appeared to be feeling better. He leaned up against the wall. After all, Irvine wasn't _really_ going to leap from the Garden, right?

As he watched the taller man carefully, Zell wondered what it must have felt like for Irvine to see Selphie with Seifer. He wasn't quite sure that he could even imagine it. Irvine had sounded pretty serious about dying. It was as if he'd it all planned out.

After finding a comfortable position on the couch, Irvine looked up at Zell, who was watching him curiously. "Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked.

"Huh?" Zell blinked in confusion.

"You look like you're off in space."

"Oh…" said Zell. "I was just thinking."

"About what?" asked Irvine.

"About you…"

Irvine looked at the shorter boy with interest. "Why were you thinking about me?"

"Were you serious?" Zell asked carefully.

Irvine raised one eyebrow and smiled crookedly. "Serious about what?"

"You know… about what ya said about dyin' and stuff?"

Irvine looked away from Zell's big, staring eyes. He took off his hat and patted his hair to make sure that it wasn't all messed up. "I dunno. I guess I was at the time but…" His eyes met Zell's and he smiled. "I'm sure glad you stopped me."

"Maybe you should talk to someone," Zell suggested, pushing himself off of the wall. "Someone like Dr. Kadowaki or Headmaster Cid; someone who could help you."

Irvine waved his hand through the air dismissing the idea. "I don't need any help," he replied coolly.

Although he didn't say anymore, Zell continued to stare at Irvine with a worried look.

"I _don't_," he reassured. "Now can we just drop the topic?"

Zell looked down at the messy floor. "Fine."

-----

Irvine and Zell hung around Zell's dorm for most of the afternoon. They shared the cafeteria dinner special, which Zell could have eaten all on his own, but then he wouldn't have had the money to pay for a separate meal for Irvine. Unfortunately, Irvine couldn't afford to buy his own meal because the man had spent all of his money previously at the pub.

After their meal, Irvine finally said his thank yous and goodbyes to Zell, whom he had left broke and still quite hungry.

Zell stood up from the cafeteria table, almost thankful that the man had left, and went straight to the Infirmary to have a talk with Dr. Kadowaki concerning Irvine's recent actions. He wasn't sure what Irvine would say when he found out that Zell had told the doctor about him, but he really didn't care either, as long as Irvine was okay.

"I see…" Dr. Kadowaki said after Zell had told her in its entirety the events that had happened that morning. The doctor put a hand to her chin. "I will have a talk with that Irvine tomorrow. The situation will be treated with the utmost of care," she reassured.

Zell nodded.

Dr. Kadowaki put a comforting hand on Zell's shoulder. "You've done a brave thing to tell me about your friend, Zell. You should feel good knowing that you may have prevented a young man's death."

Zell nodded again. Dr. Kadowaki must have seen the spaced-out look on his face.

He left the Infirmary feeling a little better than he had throughout his meal with Irvine. At least he could now rest assured that Irvine would be in good hands by morning. He would never forgive himself if Irvine decided to jump off of the Garden while he wasn't around to stop him.

-----

Irvine snuggled down into the bed in his own dorm room. It had been a few nights since he had actually slept in his own bed, what with all that was going on in his life. He was only too lucky to have Zell for a friend to help him through this time.

Although the boy could be a pain in the butt sometimes, Irvine was sure that with the help of friends like Zell, he would be ready to take on the world! Only this time it would only be one lady at a time. But come morning, would Irvine still feel so great about having Zell as a friend?

-----

End of Part III.


	4. Part IV

**Disclaimer:** (see Parts I or II.)

**A/N:** Chayn is a character that I made up; I own nothing else but the plot of this story.

**To QueenAdreena **(my only reviewer) Thanks for reading, here's another update.

-----

Irvine tapped his pen on his open notebook half due to boredom, and the other half due to nerves. He looked up from his notebook to Selphie, who was sitting not more than one row up and two seats to the right of him.

She was copying down the note that was being scrawled on the blackboard by there instructor. Just because they were SeeDs, didn't mean that they didn't have to keep their knowledge sharp.

Even though the situation with Selphie was still on Irvine's mind, thinking about her wasn't affecting him as much as it had been the previous day.

He was beginning to think that maybe once Selphie had spent a little time away from him, she would get bored with Seifer and come running back into his arms, saying that she never should have left him in the beginning. When that happened, which Irvine was sure that it would, he would pretend to consider taking her back or not, but would definitely forgive her in the end.

The instructor was explaining her illegible diagram to the class when she was interrupted by a knock on the door.

Irvine twirled his pen around his thumb mindlessly.

The instructor opened the door and spoke to the person outsidebefore returning to the classroom, "Irvine Kinneas?" She scanned the classroom.

Half the class turned to look at Irvine, who raised his hand. "Here."

"There's a message at the door for you; make it quick." The instructor went back to explaining her diagram.

Irvine stepped out into the hall to find a young SeeD-in-training with a proud look on his face.

"Hello, sir!" he greeted, "Are you Irvine Kinneas?"

Irvine nodded. "Who are you?"

"I'm Chayn; I'm helping Dr. Kadowaki in the Infirmary. She asked me to come by and inform you that she would like to speak with you today before noon."

Irvine stared at the boy for a moment. He wasn't much taller than Zell, but his blue eyes were nearly identical. He squinted down at Chayn as if this were some sort of joke. Why would Dr. Kadowaki want to see him?

Chayn shifted his weight and straightened his jacket before the man's examining eyes. "Um… Sir, is everything all right?"

Irvine blinked back to reality and gave his head a nod. "Sure, before noon. Thanks."

Chayn smiled genuinely and disappeared down the hall, while Irvine, still rather confused, went back to class.

-----

The class ended early, around 10:45am, and Irvine found himself with a few extra minutes before his next class would begin, so he made his way down to Dr. Kadowaki's office in the Infirmary to find out what she wanted to talk to him about.

He knocked on her door and the doctor immediately opened it and welcomed him to sit down in the chair in front of her desk.

Irvine removed his hat, walked into the office, and flopped himself down in the cushioned chair.

Bustling about in the office, Irvine recognized Chayn from earlier.

Chayn looked up from where he was fixing a bed with fresh white sheets and said, "Hello, sir."

Irvine gave him a faint smile.

Dr. Kadowaki sat down in the chair opposite to Irvine. Chayn walked into the room and sat in a chair against the wall.

"Irvine, I believe you've already met Chayn; he's my new assistant," said Dr. Kadowaki. "You don't mind if he sits there and observes, do you?"

Irvine looked over at the boy.

"You don't have to worry about me, sir," said the boy. "I've signed a waiver to ensure that all of the happenings that take place in this office are kept confidential. Besides, I'm not one to gossip."

Irvine blinked confusedly as everything that the Chayn had just said went in one ear and out the other. He was actually quite shocked at Chayn's articulacy. "No, I don't mind."

Chayn took out a notebook and pen.

"What's that for?" asked Irvine.

"Oh, I'm just going to take notes. Don't worry; I won't use your real name."

Irvine turned back to the doctor. "So what's with the meeting? I didn't do anything wrong."

"Actually…" Dr. Kadowaki began, "A little birdie told me that you were planning to do some harm to yourself."

Chayn scribbled something down in his notebook.

Irvine was shocked that the doctorhad been told about what had happened the previous daybut he hid it. "I don't know what you're talking about, Doc," he said coolly, putting his feet up on the desk and slouching in the chair.

"I think you know exactly what I'm talking about, Irvine," said the doctor, pushing his cowboy boots off of her once sanitary desk.

"Well, nothing happened; no biggy." Irvine got up to leave.

Dr. Kadowaki cleared her throat and pointed her finger at the chair across from her. "Sit."

Irvine did so, and Chayn made another note.

"Now, how about you tell me what happened," said the doctor.

Irvine crossed his arms in front of himself and looked to the floor.

"Irvine," Dr. Kadowaki said gently, leaning closer to him, "I'm here so that you can talk to me. Now take this chance and let me help you."

Irvine looked at the woman with uncertainty.

-----

Several minutes later, Irvine was on his way to his next class. He'd told Dr. Kadowaki about how he and Selphie had split-up after he had discovering that she was with Seifer, but he hadn't gone into detail about his decision to jump off the Garden and Dr. Kadowaki didn't ask. He figured that she wanted to save that topic for their next meeting.

As Irvine walked swiftly to class, a blur of motion sped past him. He watched as the red-vested boy with blue jeans hurried along, holding a book up beside his face to hide his identity.

"Hey Zell, wait up!" called Irvine, causing the shorter boy to start running.

Irvine shook his head and followed the boy at a slower pace to the classroom where Zell would eventually have to face him. After all, it would be impossible to avoid Irvine in the classroom; Zell sat right next to him.

-----

When Irvine walked into the classroom he took his regular seat beside Zell, who was sitting with his head buried into his arms in order to avoid anything that he might have to explain.

Irvine placed his books on the desk and leaned over to whisper into Zell's ear so that the whole room wouldn't hear him.

"I know what you did, Zell Dincht," he said in a low voice.

Zell didn't move.

Irvine sat up straight again and opened his book to the page that had been written on the board. The heavy textbook made a loud bang when it hit the desk.

Zell flinched and poked his head up. "Hey, aren't you gonna hit me or something? Ya know, make it even?"

Irvine looked down at Zell by his side and narrowed his eyes. "Nothing I could physically do to you right now could make what you've done to me even." He flipped through his book for page 233.

Zell sat up. "So… are we still buddies?"

Irvine was silent.

Zell should have known better than to ask such a stupid question. He had tattled on his friend. What kind of a friend would do that? But Zell didn't regret what he had done; he was very proud of himself. Who knows what kind of things Irvine could have done to himself if Zell had just been a silent observer.

Zell rummaged through his knapsack for his books.

"Zell," Irvine began.

"Yeah?" said Zell, not skipping a beat.

"We're still buddies," he confirmed, putting a goofy arm around Zell's shoulders. He pulled the shorter boy closer to him. "But if you ever do that again…" Irvine wrapped his arm around Zell's neck and squeezed a little tighter, choking him in a pretend manner.

"Okay, I get it!" said Zell, pushing Irvine's arm away. "Oh, and since we're buddies again, can you put your textbook a little closer to me so that I can look on with you? I forgot mine," Zell grinned widely.

Irvine pulled his textbook closer to himself. "No way, man! Get your own," he said in monotone.

-----

When class had ended, Irvine waited outside the classroom until the instructor had finished scolding Zell for talking throughout his lesson, not to mention forgetting his textbook and not doing his homework.

"Man, I hate that class!" said Zell.

"Well, if you would do your homework like a good little boy and not forget your books, you wouldn't have these problems," Irvine replied rationally.

"Oh, shut up!"

Irvine smirked. "What is your mark in that class, anyway?"

"Uh…" Zell muttered something incomprehensibly.

"What?" asked Irvine.

"54."

Irvine's eyes widened. "54?!"

"Yeah," said Zell quietly. "Mind not telling the world?"

"Sorry, it's just that… 54?! It's only supposed to be a refresher course!"

Zell shook his head. "Man, talk to me again when you aren't going to make fun of me. I get enough of that from everyone else; I don't need it for you, too." Zell turned around and walked away in the opposite direction, leaving Irvine speechless.

-----

Later that night, Irvine found himself lying in bed, wondering what had got Zell into such a grumpy mood. Maybe it was the talk with the instructor. Irvine couldn't think of any other reason as to why Zell had become all moody so suddenly.

Irvine recalled the scene again in his mind. Zell said that he was getting a 54. Maybe that was what had made him so angry. Well, if that was all that it was, Irvine could help him with that.

-----

Zell rolled over onto his back, put his hands behind his head, and stared up at the ceiling in the pitch-black room. He sighed, almost wishing that he hadn't left Irvine in the hall like that. He wasn't even sure why he had done it himself.

If the stupid instructor hadn't of spoken to him after class, he probably wouldn't have acted that way.

The instructor had told Zell that he thought that he should take a break from being a SeeD, and use his time to do some growing up.

"Ch."

Even the instructors picked on him! All his life Zell had been teased and picked on. He could never even hope to the perfect SeeD let alone the perfect boyfriend.

Once again Zell found himself lamenting his pathetic life. If people didn't respect him as a SeeD, he wouldnever find someone who would treat him with respect if he were just a regular Joe.

Maybe he _should _just quit being a SeeD and go back home to live with Ma. He would live out a happy life under Ma's roof, and never have to worry about anybody picking on him ever again. That would be the coward's way out – the Zell way.

-----

End of Part IV.


	5. Part V

**Disclaimer:** (See Part 1.)

**A/N: **Chayn is a character that I made up; I own nothing else but the plot of this story.

-

The alarm next to the bed went off. Zell pounded it until it stopped beeping and groaned. Was it only Tuesday? The week wasn't even half over yet and he already wanted it to end more than ever.

Zell dragged himself out of bed and stalked over to his dresser in his boxers. They had hot dogs on them. He pulled open a drawer, only to find it empty. That was when he realized that all of his clothes clean or not, had been strewn around the room. Why was that anyway? He couldn't remember.

He began to search through the piles of stuff for something at least semi-clean to wear. 'This room is as messed up as my life,' Zell thought ironically.

He grabbed some shorts and a shirt up off the ground and went to the bathroom for his morning shower before classes started, but then there was a knock on the door.

He wondered momentarily who it was but then his brain told him it was Irvine. Of course it was. Irvine was the only visitor that he had had in weeks. Zell snorted. Some social life he had. His only visitor was a tearful playboy.

Irvine probably wanted to talk to him about the previous day when Zell had spontaneously snapped at him and then run off, but to Zell, there was nothing to talk about. Nothing he wanted to talk about anyway.

Irvine knocked at his dorm door again.

Zell closed the door to the bathroom, ignoring his friend at the door, and placed his chosen clothes on the closed toilet lid. He stripped down to nothing and stepped into the shower. He turned the tap and water came out the spout. It was cold, but Zell didn't bother to adjust it.

Once he was finished in the bathroom, Zell searched the floor of the main room again. If he was lucky he might find something, _anything_, for breakfast. No luck. It looked like Zell would have to go to his first class hungry.

He checked to make sure that he had all of his books this time before swinging his backpack over one shoulder and heading out the door.

Zell made sure that his dorm was locked behind him and then he was off to class - almost. Not far from his room was Rinoa. He noticed her immediately in the hall and quickly dodged to the side in hopes that she wouldn't see him if he crawled past her quickly enough, but that didn't happen. It was like she had some kind of sixth sense that told her the location of anyone at any moment in time.

"There you are Zell! I _knew_ you were still in there! It's just not like you to go to class early," said Rinoa. "Why didn't you answer the door?"

"I didn't hear you," Zell lied.

"I don't know why not, I knocked real loudly," Rinoa said in a loud voice to illustrate her point. "Your next-door neighbour even heard me. He told me to knock it off, and that's when I realized that I was going to have to wait for you to come out."

"Uh huh," said Zell with boredom, wishing that Rinoa would just get to point.

"Yep!" Rinoa confirmed.

Zell stood in front of Rinoa for a moment, but when she didn't go on to say anything he began to walk away.

"Oh, wait! I didn't tell you why I'm here!" Rinoa called after him, running a little to catch up to Zell who hadn't stopped to listen to what she had to say. "I came to see you because Irvine asked me to see how you were doing."

"I'm fine," Zell said in monotone.

"Are ya sure?" Rinoa prodded, probably hoping to dig up some juicy hidden emotions of his that she could gossip about with the other SeeDs. " 'Cause Irvine sounded _really_ worried about you.

"Well I don't know why," said Zell, hoping that that would stop the conversation from going any further.

"I do," said Rinoa as a matter of fact.

Zell rolled his eyes. "Oh really?" he said sarcastically.

"Really."

"All right then, why is Irvine so worried about me?" asked Zell, not really caring about what her stupid theory would be. He hoped that she would just tell him and leave.

Rinoa hesitated before saying, "I'm not telling."

"What?" asked Zell. After Rinoa had made such a fuss about knowing why Irvine was worried, now she wasn't even going to tell him? "Why not?" Now Zell was curious as to what Rinoa knew that he didn't.

"You'll just get all moody if I tell you so I'd better not," said Rinoa.

Zell gave the girl puppy-dog eyes. "Please? Please tell me." He pouted.

Rinoa looked into the pathetic looking face of Zell. How could she resist such a face? "Naw... I don't think I should."

"Common," Zell urged.

"Well, he might get mad at me..."

"I won't tell anyone you told me."

"Promise?" asked Rinoa, looking deep into Zell's eyes.

"Promise!" he repeated.

"Okay, Irvine said that you have been helping him through certain..." Rinoa coughed, "situations... and now he says that he is worried about you because you are bummed, and that he just wants to help you out, like you helped him." Rinoa shrugged. "But you don't seem that bummed to me."

Zell didn't say anything for a moment. Irvine wanted to help him? Help him with what, raising his class mark? There wasn't really any point in that; it was probably already too late to raise it. Zell looked at Rinoa with a confused expression that could have been mistaken for blank. "What does Irvine want to help me with?"

Rinoa shrugged again. "I dunno. Probably whatever it is that you are upset about."

Zell didn't think that Irvine could possibly know what Zell had been lamenting over. If Rinoa, the reader of expressions, didn't know what was on his mind, then surely no one did... Unless Selphie had talked to Rinoa about that time that they had ate together in the cafeteria.

"Oh look! There's Squall," Rinoa waved to the young man in front of them, who waved back less enthusiastically.

Zell looked down to the ground to avoid having to take part in anymore conversations.

Rinoa placed a hand one Zell's arm. "Hey, cheer up okay! Don't go making Irvine worry about you more than he already is. Ya know, I think Irvine has a thing for you."

Zell blinked. "Say what?"

She leaned over to whisper into Zell's ear. "Don't go taking Selphie's place too quickly though, or she might come after the both of you."

Rinoa smiled sweetly and winked at Zell before skipping ahead to take Squall by the arm and lead him away.

Zell felt a tinge of jealously as he watched Squall with Rinoa. He wished that he had someone to latch onto his arm, or in his case, someone's arm to latch on to. But wait. What had Rinoa said about Irvine having a thing for him?

'Yeah right,' thought Zell. 'What has she been smoking?' Zell dismissed that thought at once, and slouched at the remembrance that he was on his way to his first class.

-

Zell's first class was pretty good; he had only been yelled at once and that was for making a smart-ass comment.

He swiftly made his way to his second class, hoping that it would go just as well, but then he saw who was walking a few yards ahead of him.

It was Irvine. His long suede jacket was flowing behind him as he walked, and he was carrying his books under one arm.

Zell suddenly remembered what Rinoa had said to him earlier. What should he do? Should he skip class to avoid the man? No, he couldn't; he was almost failing as it was. Zell could feel his heart beating faster in his chest.

'Calm down,' he thought to himself. Rinoa couldn't be right. Irvine wasn't coming on to him or anything. He was just a friend in need of comforting.

'Oh no!' Zell's mind screamed upon the sudden realization that if Irvine had a thing for him, Zell himself may have caused the man to have these feelings for him by giving him that hug and rubbing his back and-

Zell stopped himself before he got lost in all of the ways that Irvine may have gotten the wrong message about their friendship. He would just have to go into class and brave the situation. Besides, he wasn't even sure if what Rinoa had said to him was true.

Zell walked into the classroom coolly and sat down in his seat next to Irvine, though not as close as usual.

Irvine already had his textbook open to the page that was indicated on the board. He looked over to watch his friend take out his textbook and turn its pages quickly, not looking up.

Irvine assumed that Zell was still mad at him for teasing him the previous day. He really hadn't meant to offend the boy, but still, he kind of regretted ever having said anything.

"Hey," Irvine said quietly to Zell in greeting.

"Hi," Zell responded quickly, still not looking up.

Irvine was relieved that Zell had acknowledged his greeting. Perhaps he wasn't mad at him after all, but he better apologize just in case. "I'm sorry about yesterday, man. I didn't know that you would get so upset by what I had said."

"No prob," said Zell absentmindedly. Then he thought a moment. Maybe he should pretend to be mad at Irvine; that would keep him a safe distance away. Or maybe he should just tell him that he wasn't into guys. No, that would be too straightforward. He didn't want to offend his friend either.

"Ya know," Irvine began uncomfortably, fearing that his and Zell's relationship had changed since yesterday, "I was thinking about how you're doing in this class, and um... I could tutor you if you like. I think I could really help you pull up your mark."

"Sure," said Zell, but he couldn't help thinking that Irvine was just trying to get closer to him by pretending to be tutoring him.

"Cool. We can start tonight if you like."

"Sure," Zell repeated less enthusiastically. That was all he needed was more teasing of the other SeeDs because he was being tutored.

"Okay, meet me in the library at 5:00pm." Irvine took out a piece of paper and began to write out the time and place that they would meet so that Zell wouldn't forget. "We'll work for an hour and then we can grab a bite to eat afterward. I've got some money and I believe I owe you a meal."

He knew it! Irvine _was_ coming on to him. He couldn't be tutored; not by Irvine. But free food? How could he turn it down?

"Okay," Zell agreed, taking the piece of paper that Irvine had written on.

-

Second class ended exceptionally well for Zell.

Irvine closed his books quickly and stood up. "Don't forget, 5pm."

Zell nodded his head.

"Okay, see ya later then." Irvine exited the classroom.

Zell sighed. He shouldn't have said that he would meet Irvine in the library. Now he was obligated to go. He put his books into his bag, put the bag over his shoulder, and picked up the paper that Irvine had left for him. He stared at it as if waiting for it to decide whether he should meet with Irvine, or just not show up at all.

Zell slipped out of the classroom without the instructor noticing. He looked down at the paper in his hand again, and making a quick decision, crumpled it up and pitched it into the nearest garbage bin.

-

Irvine looked to the clock on the wall in the library. It read 5:28pm. Irvine stood up and walked over to the library girl. "Excuse me, is that the right time over there?" He indicated the clock.

The girl looked down at her wristwatch. "Yep."

"Thanks," said Irvine unhappily. He left the library. He couldn't believe that Zell hadn't shown. He was sacrificing _his_ free time to help the boy out, and even offered to buy him supper, and Zell wasn't even polite enough to let him know that he wasn't going to come.

Irvine tossed his blond hair to the side with his hand that wasn't carrying his books. He walked purposefully to Zell's dorm room and knocked loudly on his door, but no one answered.

Zell must have known that Irvine would come looking for him because he had gone to the Training Center.

He defeated another Grat with his fists of flames and added it to his count so far. Twenty-six. Then he stopped to take a breather. He leaned on a fallen tree and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his gloved hand.

While he sat, his mind wandered to the topic of Irvine. Zell wondered what the taller boy was doing at that moment in time. He must have realized by now that Zell wasn't going to show up, Zell just hoped that he wouldn't come to the Training Center looking for him.

Irvine would never forgive him for not showing, and Zell wondered if the whole situation was really worth losing Irvine's friendship over. After all, Zell thought rationally, Rinoa did say that Irvine had actually told him that Irvine had the hots for him. Irvine still hadn't fully recovered from the loss of Selphie, and Zell doubted that the man would move on so quickly.

Zell suddenly realized how childish he was behaving. He stood up. He had to tell Irvine what was bothering him. At least then Irvine would know that it wasn't his own fault that Zell hadn't shown up for their study session, blame himself, and jump off of the Garden.

Zell made his way back to the entrance of the Training Center to find that a Grat was in his way of leaving. "You're going to be sorry if you don't move," he warned the Grat.

The creature didn't move.

"All right," said Zell. "Bring it."

-

Irvine was on his way back to his dorm room when Dr. Kadowaki and a group of people in long white coats raced toward him.

Irvine quickly stepped out of their way before they ran him over. What was their hurry? He continued walking down the hallway until he was stopped by an out of breath Chayn.

Chayn stopped in front of Irvine, his chest was rising up and down. "Zell Dincht," he breathed. "He is your friend, is that correct sir?"

Irvine looked confused. "Yeah, why?"

"Dr. Kadowaki asked me to find you and inform you that you have permission to visit him in the Infirmary."

"The Infirmary?" Irvine repeated. "Why is he there?"

Chayn looked unhappy to be the one to have to tell Irvine the news. "There's been an accident."

-

End of Part V.


	6. Part VI

**Disclaimer:** (See Part I.)

**A/N: **Chayn is a character that I made up; I own nothing else but the plot of this story.

-.-.-.-.-

Irvine burst into the Infirmary ahead of Chayn faster than one can say 'chocobo' and moved to Zell's bedside.

Zell was lying in the white bed with only his head and arms showing above the white sheet over him. His arms were wrapped up and bloody, and his face was purple and bruised in patches.

"Zell..." Irvine said his name through a lump in his throat.

"It appears that he has fallen asleep again," Chayn informed.

Irvine looked at Chayn and was about to ask him what had happened, when Chayn began to speak. "He was found in the Training Center by group of students."

A girl walked into the room where Zell was. Her right arm was in a sling and she had a bandage wrapped around her head. "It was horrible!" she exclaimed. "We were going to go in for some training when saw a Grat above him." She indicated Zell. "It looked like it was sucking all the life out of him. One of my friends screamed and the Grat looked over at us. The next thing we know it's chasing us. We ran as fast as we could but it was right behind us!"

Irvine thought that the girl was about to cry. "Then what happened?" he asked, wanting to know more.

"Then we thought that we had lost it, but it had just chased us toward a whole bunch of Grats. There were _so_ many! Luckily one of my friends managed to get back to the entrance and she came here to the Infirmary to get help." The girl took Irvine's jacket sleeve and pulled him to another room in the Infirmary. "That's Shelly."

Irvine looked at the girl in the Infirmary bed. Her face was purple and puffy, and made her look like she had been on the receiving end of a fist fight.

"Shelly got it twice as bad as that boy in the other room did."

Irvine was speechless. The Grats in the Training Center weren't supposed to be _this_ vicious. Irvine went back into Zell's room. "Did a Grat really do all this?" he asked Chayn.

"It appears that way, sir," said Chayn.

Irvine sat down in a chair beside Zell's bed. Previously, he had been disappointed in Zell for not showing up to study, but now he felt terrible. He had no idea that Zell had been taken to the Infirmary with injuries.

-.-.-.-.-

Irvine stayed by Zell's side until late that evening when Ma Dincht showed up in the Infirmary.

"What's happened to my boy?" asked Ma, walking into the room where Irvine sat. "Oh," she was startled when she realized that Irvine was in the room. "Hello there."

Irvine smiled slightly.

Dr. Kadowaki walked into the room behind Ma. "Irvine, are you still here? You should go back to your dorm now and get some sleep." She moved behind Irvine and pushed him gently toward the door. "You need to be well rested so that you can stay awake in your classes tomorrow."

Irvine didn't want to leave his friend's side yet, but Ma had come to take his place so he didn't feel too bad leaving.

The hallways in the Dormitory were silent by the time Irvine got to his room.

He went into his room, changed his clothes, brushed his teeth, and finally settled into bed for the night. The blankets were cold against his skin, but he didn't give them a second thought because he was already worrying about Zell again.

There was nothing that Irvine could have done to avoid Zell's injury from happening, but he wished that there had been. Maybe if he had been with Zell at the time he could have helped him, but he hadn't been.

Irvine cursed his lack of good timing. He was too late to stop Selphie from seeing Seifer, and now he had been too late to stop Zell from being injured.

Irvine curled up under his cold blanket and hoped that Zell would be awake in the morning.

-.-.-.-.-

Zell's eyes fluttered open. He stared up at a white ceiling and waited for it to come into focus before looking around. Where was he? He attempted to sit up and find out, but instead found that the pain in his head was too unbearable to sit up yet.

"Zell, you awake?" asked a voice from his bedside.

Zell looked to the right of where he was laying to see that Irvine was sitting beside him. "Yeah." Zell assumed that he was in the Infirmary from the white blankets that he was wrapped in. "How did I get here?"

"Apparently there was an accident in the Training Center and the Grats got out of control," Irvine informed Zell as best he could with only the information that he had heard from random people. "Do you remember what happened?"

Zell thought for a moment. He remembered what had happened all right. He had been in the Training Center because he had been avoiding his study session with Irvine, but he wasn't going to tell him about that part. "I had finished my training and was about to leave, but a Grat was blocking the way."

Irvine listened with interest.

"I had already defeated twenty-six, so I figured I'd just fight that one as well, but then..." Zell squinted up at the ceiling, remembering what had happened. "There were more of them. Too many." He looked over at Irvine, who was waiting to hear the rest of the story. "I remember running, but I can't remember anything else."

Zell rolled his head to the left to see a rather large pile of gifts. "Whoa! What's all this _stuff_?"

"It seems that a lot of people brought you get-well gifts while you were asleep," said Irvine.

"How do they know what happened?" asked Zell.

"The Headmaster made an announcement this morning warning people to stay out of the Training Center until they find out what caused the Grats to loose control, and he mentioned the names of people who were injured," said Irvine.

"How many people were hurt?" asked Zell.

"Quite a few actually."

Zell picked out a box of chocolates from his pile of gifts. "Oh! I love this kind!" he exclaimed. He read the attached note out loud. " 'To Zell, You'd better get better soon you knucklehead! Hugs. Rinoa.' " Zell shook his head. "She's insane." He popped a chocolate into his mouth.

"Hey!" yelled an angered Dr. Kadowaki from the other room. "Don't eat too many of those. We want you to recover, not get a stomachache!"

Zell hid the box of chocolates. "Eat what?" he asked through his mouthful of chocolate.

Dr. Kadowaki glared into the room at him. "I'm watching you."

Irvine chuckled.

Zell held out the box of chocolates to Irvine. "Want one?"

"No thanks." Irvine held up a hand and shook his head.

Zell shrugged and chomped down on another chocolate before putting the lid back on and placing it back on top of his pile. "So how long have you been sitting there?" he asked Irvine.

Irvine looked up from the issue of Timber Maniacs that he had just begun to read. "Uh... about 45 minutes. It's lunch, so I just thought I'd come down and see you for a while."

Zell was stunned. "You gave up your _lunch_ for me?" he asked.

Irvine shrugged off the question. "I ate earlier."

"Well, you don't have to stay with me if ya don't wanna. You can go now if you want," said Zell.

"I want to be here. I wouldn't be if I didn't," Irvine assured Zell and grinned. "And why would I leave you now? You've just woken up."

"I dunno" said Zell.

"Okay." Irvine folded up the magazine in his hand and pocketed it into his jacket.

This was it. This was Zell's chance to find out if what Rinoa had said about Irvine was true or not. This may be his only chance and if he didn't take it now it might never come again. "Hey, Irvine..."

Irvine looked to Zell's face just as a ray of sunlight shown down onto him through the window, illuminating his lax body. Irvine squinted a little to block the sun out of his eyes. "Yeah?" he asked.

Zell was temporarily frozen in time. He couldn't believe that he had never noticed it before. The way Irvine's ponytail hung over his shoulder when he wasn't in motion. Or the way that he had little creases around his mouth when he smiled. Or the fact that even though he was only seventeen years old, everyone thought of Irvine as a man – and a gorgeous man at that.

Zell blinked out of his thoughts and realized that Irvine was watching him, waiting for him to say what he was going to say. Zell blushed "Uh... nothin'."

Irvine raised an eyebrow inquisitively with a slight smile "All right."

Zell was about to say something when the bells sounded the end of lunch and the beginning of the next class period.

Irvine stood and moved to the exit. "I'll come by to see you later, okay?"

Zell nodded as best he could from his lying down position.

"Don't miss me," he teased, and Zell wished that he hadn't.

Of course, Zell hadn't told Irvine that he had purposely avoided Irvine the previous day, however, now he felt burdened with the guilt of knowing that Irvine was worried about him, and not mad at all. If he had of just gone straight to the library to study, he wouldn't have been injured in the first place, but maybe it was best that Irvine didn't know the truth.

-.-.-.-.-

Zell had many visitors throughout the day. Currently with him was Rinoa. He wasn't sure what she was talking about anymore because she had just completely switched conversations. First she had been talking about how the instructor of her first class had given them four chapters to read from their text book, and now she was talking about the cafeteria lady's son, who for some reason that Zell was sure Rinoa had mentioned while he wasn't paying attention, liked stuffed pink panda bears.

"And that's all that you've missed since yesterday," Rinoa concluded, not even out of breath from her longwinded speech.

"Oh, that's all, eh?" Zell asked with sarcasm.

"Um..." Rinoa reviewed what she had said in her mind as if she had memorized it before hand. "Yep, that's it! You're so lucky that you have someone like me to fill you in."

"I know..." Zell said in monotone.

Rinoa smiled widely showing her teeth. "I see Irvine has been in here."

"How do you know?" asked Zell, not seeing how she could possibly know that Irvine had been there earlier unless he had told her.

Rinoa motioned her head to a large bouquet that Zell had not realized was there earlier.

Zell reached over from his now sitting position to the card that was attached to the flowers. On the envelope, in Irvine's handwriting, was Zell's name. He opened the envelop to find a small note. 'Zell, I went to the Training Center earlier and saw that you had signed in at 5:00pm last night. We don't have to study together if you really don't want to. Next time, just tell me. Irvine.'

"Busted." Rinoa's loud voice in the silent room caused Zell to jump. She had been reading the note over his shoulder. "Aww! You two were going to study together? How come you blew him off" she demanded.

"Uh..." Zell tried to hide under his sheets, but it was no use, Rinoa was right in his face now.

She sat back down suddenly and brought her hands up to her face and shook her head, her eyes were all misty. "You two would make such a cute couple!" she cooed.

Zell watched the girl nervously.

"Oh, I get it!" she said as if she had just discovered how to work out a complex math equation. "You're too shy to ask for a date." Then she began to talk more to herself than to Zell. "Though he did have a chance to be with Irvine while they 'studied' together, but it's too late for that now, you turned that down. And Irvine isn't very direct in his approach to asking for dates, so..." She turned back to Zell with an evil glint in her eyes. "I know!" she exclaimed. "I'll talk to Irvine for you and set you up with a date!"

"No!" Zell objected. "Don't you dare!"

"Okay..." Rinoa said through her widest smile yet. "I won't." She backed toward the door. "See ya later Zell." She waved before disappearing around the corner.

Zell sighed and seriously thought that Rinoa should pursue the career path of a matchmaker instead of a SeeD.

He looked back to the flowers. They were tiger lilies like the ones that Ma grew in her backyard, and they were luscious and full.

To Zell's surprise, he wasn't even all that upset about what Rinoa had said she was going to do. In fact, he found the whole situation rather exciting and quite scary at the same time. Maybe, in all the time that Zell had spent looking for a girlfriend, he really should have been looking for the opposite.

-.-.-.-.-

End of Part VI.


	7. Part VII

**Disclaimer:** (See Part I.)

**A/N: **Chayn is a character that I made up; I own nothing else but the plot of this story.

**To my readers/reviewers: **I'm sorry for any OOC-ness that Zell has portrayed.

-.-.-.-.-

Wednesday. Irvine stood in line for his lunch in the cafeteria. Was that Selphie coming his way? It most definitely was. On her plate she had a grilled cheese sandwich, which Irvine painfully remembered was her favourite food. Coming up behind her was Seifer.

Irvine snarled as the replacement put his arm around Selphie's waist and they shared a laugh together. Irvine caught Selphie's eye as she passed and forced a smile.

She glared at him and continued to walk by with Seifer.

Irvine quickly bought his lunch and found an empty table to sit at.

Shortly, Rinoa and Quistis joined him. Irvine welcomed them happily as he didn't want to sit alone.

"Oh, Quistis, did you know that the cafeteria lady's son likes stuffed pink panda bears?" asked Rinoa.

"Really...?" asked Quistis, not really sure what to make of the fact.

Irvine would have asked what they were talking about, but he figured it best to just let this conversation slip by him.

Faster than one could say 'moomba', the conversation turned in the direction of Irvine.

"So Irvine, who are you with these days... or nights? Seeing any nice ladies?" asked Quistis, genuinely interested in what Irvine had been up to.

"Yeah, Irv, who ya hanging out with?" asked Rinoa, taking a sip of her juice.

Irvine shifted his weight nervously on his seat. "Well, um... I think it's a little early to be hooking up with someone new, don't you"

"Well yeah," said Quistis "but not for you."

Irvine shrugged his shoulders. He couldn't deny the truth, but he knew that he had disappointed the ladies by not being able to fill them in on his personal life.

"Irvine, I never thought I'd ask this, but..." Quistis paused "are you attracted to men?"

"What about Zell?" Rinoa added quickly. "You've been hanging around with him a lot lately."

Irvine could feel his face redden. "Well... He's been helping me through some, uh... issues."

"But you were really worried about him the other day when you asked me to go and talk to him for you," Rinoa reminded.

"Of course I was!" Irvine said, regaining his cool. "He had flipped out and I just wanted to help him with his school work. He's a little touchy when it comes to jokes, ya know?"

"Oh..." said Quistis with disappointment. "I thought you two were closer than that."

"Yeah," said Rinoa to Quistis. "I guess Zell's just out of luck."

"What do you mean?" asked Irvine.

"Oh, nothing" said Rinoa. "You aren't interested."

Irvine's eyes widened in shock. "Well, I'm interested in what you have to say now. Tell me."

"Un-un!" Rinoa shook her head. "Zell might get mad if I tell you."

"If you tell me what?" asked Irvine becoming more aggressive. "I won't tell him, I swear!" He crossed his heart.

Rinoa smiled at Quistis before looking back to Itvine. "Okay, it's like this. Zell has a big crush on you."

"What?" asked Irvine in disbelief.

"Oh yeah, mega crush!" Quistis confirmed.

"No he doesn't!" Irvine confirmed. "We're just friends."

"Well, like it or not, that's not how Zell feels," said Rinoa.

A sad look befell Quistis' face. "Oh no!" she said.

"What is it Quisty?" asked Rinoa.

Quistis' eyes became teary. "Now Zell's going to have a broken heart."

Rinoa became teary-eyed, too. "You're right!" She and Quistis hugged each other in an attempt to comfort each other from the sadness of the whole situation.

Irvine looked around quickly to see if anyone at the other tables was watching the girls' dramatic scene. "No one's going to have a broken heart, because no one has a crush on me!" Irvine said with force, hoping that the girls would finally get the message.

"Oh, how would you know?" snapped Rinoa. "You're a guy! You have no idea how the hearts of women work."

"Um... but Zell's a dude, too..." Irvine pointed out.

Quistis glared at Irvine. "_Hearts _of_ women_." She shook her head. "It doesn't matter if he's male."

"You have no idea how Zell begged me to talk to him for you," Rinoa lied. "I thought he was gonna cry!"

"Why would he want _you_ to talk to me?" asked Irvine. "He sees me far more than he sees you."

Rinoa and Quistis looked at each other with knowing looks and exclaimed in harmony "Clueless!"

Irvine raised an eyebrow at the girls in question, but they ignored him.

"Zell's too shy too talk to you about affairs of the heart," said Rinoa. "I mean, you're his _crush_. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

Irvine wore a blank expression and shook his head.

"Irvine, you just _have_ to give Zell a chance!" Rinoa went on. "He'll be heartbroken if I have to tell him that you rejected him."

"I haven't rejected him though, we're still friends," Irvine said simply.

"Yeah, just friends... like you and Selphie are now right?"

Irvine's mouth hit the floor. How dare they use his own experiences against him! Stupid, evil, conniving women. He did, however, see the point that they were trying to make.

Irvine sighed. "If it will make you feel any better, I'll go and talk to Zell."

Quistis looked at Irvine the way that a mother would her son after he's taken his first steps or said his first word. "Aww! I knew you were attracted to men!"

"I didn't say that!" Irvine objected, standing up to leave.

Quistis shook her head as if she were trying to rid something from her mind. "Whatever." She waved goodbye to Irvine.

"Go get 'im Irv!" Rinoa called to Irvine's back.

Irvine glanced back to the table with a confused expression, and Rinoa wink at him.

-.-.-.-.-

Zell had been released from the Infirmary earlier that morning as his injuries were only minute. Chayn had told him that the Grat had only affected him with a powerful sleeping spell, and that Dr. Kadowaki said that they only needed to keep him in the Infirmary to make sure that there was nothing more serious involved with his condition.

Still in a little pain from the experience, Zell was cautioned to stay in bed and rest for a few more days, but after that he was free to attend his classes again. Joy.

While lying bored to death in his bed, Zell couldn't help but let his mind wander to thoughts of Irvine and his pretty boy good looks. He wondered if Rinoa would really talk to Irvine. Of course, there was no way that Irvine would ever like him even if he did like guys, which Zell was positive that didn't. Zell was just a little boy with a temper. Compared to Irvine, he was like seagull pooh on the base of beautiful statue.

Still, it was nice to think about what life would be like with Irvine. Of course, Zell had had no previous relationships, but he assumed that they would do things together like go out for supper, to the movies, anywhere, as long as they were together. Irvine would teach him how to shoot like a man, and he would show Irvine a few boxing moves.

Then Zell thought about the negative side that their relationship might have. Teasing, hateful remarks, maybe even fist fights, but it could all be worth it if there was a chance that the taller boy felt the same as Zell was feeling now.

Zell was feeling more nervous than ever. What would happen to their friendship if Irvine rejected him? They had to _sit_ beside each other in second class! That would be awkward, but even before that stage, what if Irvine confronted him Zell about the situation? Maybe he shouldn't have let Rinoa take matters into her own hands.

Zell sighed in the quiet room and then a knock on his door made him jump.

His heart raced as he carefully got up and walked to the door, not noticing the pain as much as the last time that he arose from bed. He opened the door to no one other than Irvine.

Impulse told him to close the door again, but Zell resisted the urge.

"Hey," said Irvine coolly. "Can I come in?"

Zell swallowed hard. "Sure." His mind screamed, 'NO!'

Irvine moved past Zell into the messy dorm room. Then he turned to look at Zell, who still hadn't closed the door. It was as if he expected Irvine only to walk in, retrieve something that he may have left behind, and then promptly leave again.

But he did not leave.

There was an uncanny silence in the room that hung in the air like a summer heat wave.

To Zell's surprise, the room suddenly felt as it the temperature had gone up about 20 degrees, even though that was quite impossible. He felt slightly dizzy and wobbled back and forth unsteadily.

In a blur of motion Irvine moved to Zell's side and lead him back to his bed to rest. He placed the back of his hand on Zell's perspiring forehead and wasn't surprised to find that the shorter boy was running a fever.

"It looks like I came by just in time," said Irvine, wrapping the boy back into his blankets. He disappeared into the bathroom and returned to the bedside with a cool damp washcloth, which he placed gently on Zell's forehead.

Zell closed his eyes and welcomed the cooling sensation of the damp cloth. "I'm sorry," Zell apologized for his condition.

"Don't be," said Irvine. "I'm just happy that I can be here for you now to repay you for helping me." He leaned forward involuntarily, though not against his own freewill either, and softly kissed the shorter boy's tattooed face.

-.-.-.-.-

End of Part VII.


	8. Part VIII

**Disclaimer:** (See Part I.)

**A/N: **Chayn is a character that I made up; I own nothing else but the plot of this story.

**To my readers/reviewers: **I am SOOO SORRY that I haven't updated in so long, but I have been SO busy with school and getting all my info into the universities that I've applied to, that I haven't been able to update at all! Please forgive me! I've dropped two of my courses now, so I hope that I will have a little more time to write as well as keep up with my Math homework. Also, I am VERY sorry that the last few parts have been missing "?" "." and "!" after some sentences. I think that's because I am typing on a very old computer and then uploading on a newer one. I will try to fix up the mistakes. OK! Here is the next chapter! Please review!

.-.-.-.-.-

Dr. Kadowaki took Zell's temperature and handed a some tablets to Irvine. "Give these to him in the morning with a glass of water," she instructed.

"Is his condition serious?" asked Irvine.

Chayn, who had accompanied Dr. Kadowaki, shook his head. "No sir, it just seems that he is not fully recovered from the Grat's sleeping spell yet."

"Then why was he let out of the Infirmary?" Irvine demanded.

"He was well enough to leave at that time. Maybe he is under some stress; that may have caused him to have another reaction and the onset of this sudden fever," Dr. Kadowaki replied in her logical way. "Just give him the medicine in the morning and he'll be fine," Dr. Kadowaki assured.

Irvine nodded his head and the doctor left with Chayn close behind.

Holding the medicine bottle in his hand, Irvine rolled it over and inspected it. Then he looked at Zell who had fallen asleep again.

Although it wasn't necessary, Irvine decided to spend the night in Zell's dorm room in case the shorter boy's condition was to become more serious. That way he would be right at his side to help. After clearing a spot on the incredibly messy floor, Irvine was able to set up his pillow and blanket on the floor in the main room of the door. He settled in and quickly fell asleep because he didn't have to spend countless hours worrying about Zell, ill and alone through the night.

.-.-.-.-.- 

"Irvine! What are you doing here?"

Irvine's eyes immediately flew open at the sound of Zell's voice. He jumped up in the dark room, flicked on the light switch and moved to Zell's bedside. "I just thought I'd stay here until morning and-"

"Come in... but we have to be quiet," Zell mumbled, and rolled over.

Irvine furrowed his eyebrows. Zell was talking in his sleep. Irvine sighed and moved back to the main room, switched off the light, and laid back down.

"Irvine, no so loud, Ma is downstairs."

Irvine blushed as he thought about what Zell could possibly be dreaming of. He was flattered that he was occupying his friend's dreams, but he wished that it would be done more quietly. He was just thankful that his friend didn't sleep walk.

.-.-.-.-.-

Irvine awoke the following morning to the beeping of his watch. He felt the face of the watch with his eyes shut and turned it off, not ready to get up yet. He pulled on his blanket to wrap it more thoroughly around himself, but he found that it was difficult to do so. He scrunched up his face and pulled harder on the blanket. Maybe it was caught on something.

Irvine sighed, but found the air in the room rather stuffy and humid. He wondered, eyes still shut, if the temperature had automatically risen during the night. Or maybe he had caught whatever Zell had had the night before.

He thought that he should get up and check to make sure that Zell was all right, and turn down the heat, but he felt so warm and snuggly that he didn't want to get up yet. So he lay there a while longer.

He was on the verge of falling asleep again when something moved behind him. It breathed on his neck and put a hand around his stomach. Someone was there and he was positive that Zell didn't have a dog. Irvine's eyes shot open and he jumped up faster than lightning.

There, lying on the ground wrapped up in his own sheets was Zell. He scrunched up his face at the sudden loss of Irvine's body heat and pulled the blanket up to his chin.

Irvine gave a sigh of relief and relaxed a little.

Zell opened one eye and watched Irvine in his briefs and undershirt, move to get something from off of a table. "Why do ya have ta get up so early?" he asked.

"Unlike your lazy self, I have to go to class today," Irvine replied, moving to the kitchen and pouring a glass of water.

"I'm not lazy, I'm sick," Zell corrected and gave a fake cough. "See?"

Irvine looked down at Zell on the floor to see him perform an act of fainting. "Sure, whatever." He walked over and held out the glass of water and tablets to Zell. "Take these."

Zell sat up. "What is it?"

"Dr. Kadowaki wants you to take them."

Zell shrugged and took the medicine, watching Irvine out of the corner of his eye as he slipped into his pants and jacket.

Irvine placed his hat firmly on his head and moved to the door. "I'll be back later for my blanket and pillow," he informed before leaving.

Zell placed his empty glass on the floor beside him and snuggled back down into Irvine's blankets, which still maintained his sent, even with him gone.

.-.-.-.-.-

"Oh Irvine."

Irvine glanced back behind him to see the overly perky Rinoa skipping up behind him. "Oh... It's you..." He continued walking on his way to his next class.

"I know you're happy to see me, but you don't have to overdo it," she teased. "Have you talked to Zell yet?"

Irvine scratched the back of his head. "No, not really."

"What do you mean, 'not really'? Is that a yes or a no?" she demanded.

"It's a 'not really'," Irvine tried to clarify.

"As in...?"

"As in, I talked to him, but didn't get a chance to ask him anything, okay?" Irvine said, become more frustrated by the second.

"Okay! Geez!" Rinoa crossed her arms. "You don't have to be all mean about it. It was just a question!"

Irvine knew that nothing Rinoa ever asked was 'just a question'.

"So... you want me to talk to him for you?"

Irvine rolled his eyes at Rinoa's enthusiasm of his and Zell's non-existent relationship. "No."

"Fine. Be like that!" Rinoa turned on her heal and skipped away in the opposite direction.

.-.-.-.-.-

Irvine found it had to concentrate on his classes the rest of the day, as his mind was constantly switching back and forth between Zell and having to eventually confront him, and did he remember their kiss? He didn't seem to, but Irvine couldn't be sure. And how much longer was Rinoa going to pester him? He knew that he would have to talk to Zell soon. He couldn't stand being pestered.

As his classes came to an end for the day, Irvine packed up his belongings and made his way back to Zell's dorm room. He knocked only once before the door was swung open for him, as if Zell had been counting down the seconds until his return.

"I was waiting for you," Zell said with enthusiasm.

"I know..." said Irvine. "I just came to get my stuff." He walked casually into the room, picked up his pillow and blanket, which Zell had folded neatly for him on the floor, and then he made his way back toward the door.

Zell knew that he had to do something quick or else lose his chance to have his private talk with Irvine. He quickly stepped in front of the door, blocking Irvine's exit.

Irvine stared into his friend's face with confusion. "What is it?"

"Irv... I've been meaning to talk to you..."

"Yeah?" Irvine fidgeted nervously with his pillow case. "About what?" he asked, know exactly what about.

"You and me... We've been friends for a while and... I just wanted to know if... uh..." Zell blushed and looked away from Irvine's handsome face. "Do you think that..."

"That what?" Irvine prompted.

"That we could ever be... more than friends?" His words came out in a croak. He looked back at Irvine with schoolboy bright eyes.

Irvine had practiced what he might say to the boy to be prepared for this question, but now nothing was coming to him. "I... don't know what to say," he said truthfully.

Zell remained silent, holding his breath.

"Yeah, we've been friends, but I don't want to rush into another relationship. Not so soon after what happened between me and Selphie." Irvine moved his hand to his heart. "It still hurts."

Zell nodded his head, mentally kicking himself for ever having asked. "Yeah, I know, but Rinoa said that you were into me, and you _have_ been spending a lot of time with me lately."

"Well that's because you're the only one I feel comfortable talking to, and then you were careless and got hurt, so I wanted to help you... Wait a minute..." A smile took over Irvine's previously serious expression. "You talked to Rinoa? Rinoa told me that _you _had a mega crush on _me_."

Zell blushed again. "Well, you're one of my best buds." He shook his head. "This is all Rinoa's fault! She's the one who started putting ideas in my head about us."

Irvine took a step closer to Zell, who flashed Irvine a fleeting expression of fear. Irvine smiled with amusement at the shorter boy's discomfort. "Well... We could always..." Irvine's voice softened and he leaned in toward Zell, "see how far things go."

Zell backed into the door, only to find that he couldn't get farther away.

Irvine's lips met Zell's, and stunned for a moment, Zell didn't know what to do as he stared into the face to his best friend, but he quickly banished his fears from his mind and became lost in the moment.

Irvine pulled away and smiled slyly. "I'll tell you what. I'll think about this you and me thing, okay?"

Zell stupidly nodded his head, as no words would come out of his mouth. He moved aside and let the taller boy leave.

Zell walked around his dorm in a daze, until the reality of what had just happened sunk in. He jumped into the air and landed in a victory pose. "Thank you Rinoa!"

.-.-.-.-.-

End of Part VIII.


	9. Part IX

**Disclaimer:** (See Part I.)

**A/N: **Chayn is a character that I made up; I own nothing else but the plot of this story.

**To ****QueenAdreena** I knew I could count on you to leave a review. Thank you very, very much! I KNOW I've taken forever! I hope to never do it again! I even stayed up until 10:30pm last night so that I could finish that last part! (I already had most of it typed.) Anyway... I hope you are enjoying you reading experience! Here's another update for you.

.-.-.-.-.-

After another day of rest and full night's sleep, Zell was well enough to go back to his classes. He had missed so much though, that he was doubtful that there was any hope in trying to pass them - especially with his current marks.

He stuffed his books into his backpack and went on his way to class.

What he hadn't anticipated on was the discomfort that he would now have while sitting beside Irvine in class. He had thought that confessing his feelings to Irvine would make them closer, but it appeared that Zell was having a rather difficult time concentrating on the lesson. 'Oh well,' he thought. 'At least it's Friday.'

.-.-.-.-.-

After a difficult day of trying to catch up in his classes, Zell flopped down on his stomach on the squeaky couch in his dorm room and put his face into the crook of his elbow. He could fall asleep he was so tired, and he hadn't even stayed up very late.

Not including seeing him in class, Zell hadn't seen Irvine around for a couple of days. He had thought that things were going perfect between him and Irvine on Wednesday when he hardly even had to say anything to him. The cowboy had obviously been thinking about Zell for a while too, because it hadn't taken him very long to decide that they would try taking their relationship to the next level.

It had been two days now though, and Zell found that he had too much free time to worry about what might be going through Irvine's head.

Zell pushed himself up into a sitting position on the couch and pulled over his textbook. He flipped it open to the lessons that he had missed and began to read. Maybe if he kept himself occupied with his studies then he would be able to keep his mind off of Irvine.

.-.-.-.-.-

Rinoa happily bounced over to the unsuspecting cowboy relaxing in the cafeteria with his booted feet on the adjacent chair and the Balamb newspaper unfolded and spread across the table in front of him. "Hey Irv! Can I sit with you?" Rinoa asked happily.

Irvine nodded, eyes remaining on the article that he was currently reading.

Rinoa took a seat and put down her drink. Then she folded her arms, leaned in, and rested them on the table.

Irvine knew that she wanted to ask him a question, but he just continued to read. He wanted to see how long it would take her to talk. He glanced down at his watch.

Rinoa stared at Irvine, but could see that he wasn't going to give in so easily. She leaned in closer to him, trying to get in between him and his newspaper.

Irvine moved the newspaper slightly and continued reading.

She picked up her drink, put it to her mouth, and slurped in an annoying fashion, but still Irvine's eye remained locked onto the paper.

Rinoa slammed her cup back down on the table. "Ugh! Why do you have to be so rude! You ask me to sit with you and then you ignore me... I can't believe it!"

Irvine put down his newspaper and checked his watch, before giving Rinoa his total concentration. "Fifty-three seconds. I'm impressed."

She smiled sweetly. "Thanks. Wait! Don't try and change the subject. I haven't seen you for a while. You have to tell me what's up."

"I saw you this morning, remember?" Irvine picked up Rinoa's drink and took a sip. "Mmm... What is this?"

"It's a banana-strawberry- HEY! That's mine!" Rinoa took her cup away from Irvine. "I know I saw you this morning, but you still haven't told me what you've been up to lately. You talked to Zell right?"

"Yeah... How do you know?"

Rinoa smiled and took another sip of her drink. "I can tell..."

"You can, can you?" asked Irvine.

"Yep!" Rinoa replied simply. "So when was your first date?"

Irvine stared at Rinoa without expression.

Rinoa's voice became harder. "Common, you've had to have had one by now!"

Irvine shook his head.

"Why not?" Rinoa demanded.

"It's only been two days!" Irvine reasoned. "Don't rush me."

"Only two days? Two days can seem like forever! You have to get this ball rolling sometime."

Rinoa's eyes suddenly lit up as an idea came to her. "I know! You could come with Squall and me for lunch on Sunday! It'll be like a double date!"

"I don't know..." said Irvine with a little quiver in his voice. "Lunch with you..."

Rinoa hit Irvine's shoulder in a teasing way. "Hey! It'll be fun! See if Zell's doing anything on Sunday at noon and then get back to me." She stood up to leave.

"All right," Irvine agreed. If Zell weren't busy, it looked like Irvine had himself a first date.

.-.-.-.-.-

A knock on Zell's dorm door brought him out of his daydream. He had been trying to get his reading done for his classes, but he couldn't stop his mind from wandering off. He cursed his classes for being so boring, and got off the couch to open the door.

It was, of course, Irvine standing at the door. Zell smiled and let his best friend into the room.

"Hey, have you been doing some reorganizing in here?" asked Irvine with his back turned to Zell.

Zell nodded. "Yeah, but you can't really tell."

"No, it looks much better," said Irvine, though he agreed completely with Zell.

"Thanks... So what brings you here?"

"You, of course," Irvine turned to face Zell and gave him a slight grin.

Zell felt his knees weaken as his friend gave him a quick look up and down. "Yeah?" he asked, the tone of his voice wasn't as natural as it could have been.

"Yeah." Irvine paused. "And I wanted to see how your classes are. I'll bet you've missed a lot of work, seeing as you were feeling under the weather for so many days."

Zell rolled his eyes. "You have no idea how much I missed, and I thought that it was all review!"

Irvine chuckled. "It is all review."

Zell scowled at Irvine. "I know, but I just don't get it!"

"Hey man, don't worry. If you are serious about doing it this time, the offer is still available for me to give you some tutoring. What do ya say?"

Zell thought for a moment. Tutoring... from Irvine... He would never be able to concentrate on his work with Irvine around, but perhaps his friend could at least help him get caught up. "I'll definitely take up that offer!" Zell said enthusiastically.

"Great!" said Irvine. "But this time, don't leave me waiting in the library like last time... In fact, why don't I just come here? Then you won't have to be tempted to go into the Training Center like last time."

'Oh no!' Zell's mind panicked. 'Alone in my dorm with Irvine?' "Uh... sure," he managed.

"Okay, then how about we get together tomorrow? Will that be all right? What time do you thing?"

"... 3PM?" asked Zell.

"3PM!" Irvine agreed. "See you then." He left the room, closing the door behind him on the way out.

Irvine walked down the hallway, proud that he had finally set up a time with Zell. It hadn't been for the date that Rinoa was planning on Sunday, but he would still have the time to ask Zell if he wanted to go out for lunch tomorrow during their study session. He didn't want to rush things.

.-.-.-.-.-

The study session went better than Zell had expected. Irvine didn't try and lay any moves on Zell, or make him feel uncomfortable at all, and Zell had incredible concentration on the work that he needed to catch up on that even Irvine had commented on Zell's new found commitment to the work.

After working for two hours straight, the boys decided to take a break, and Zell brought out some munchies that he had been saving for himself, but had decided to share since he was taking up most of Irvine's afternoon.

Zell placed a bowl of Bits & Bites on the table that he had set up for them to work on, and watched as Irvine picked out the pretzels and popped them into his mouth.

"Thanks for helping me, Irv."

Irvine looked up at Zell from his spot on the squeaky couch with his eye brows raised as if he didn't understand the language. "Oh! Not a problem at all!" he said through a mouthful of pretzels. "It's my pleasure."

Zell took a seat by Irvine and ate some of the Bits & Bites as well.

"Oh," Irvine continued, "and before I forget, what are you doing tomorrow?"

"Uh..." Zell thought a moment. He hadn't had anything planned, though he was thinking of maybe going to visit Ma. "Nothing really. Why?"

"Rinoa and Squall are going out for lunch tomorrow, and Rinoa asked me if you and I would like to go with them, so I told her that I would ask you." Irvine waited for an answer.

"Where are they going?" asked Zell.

"I don't know," Irvine confessed. "I wasn't planning on going without you, so I didn't ask her too many questions. I can find out if you want."

"Well... as long as it's not that place in Dollet where they don't serve hotdogs, I'd love to go for lunch!" said Zell excitedly.

Irvine gave a hearty laugh and smiled. "All right. I'll let Rinoa know that as long as there are hotdogs you'll be there."

.-.-.-.-.-

Zell combed his hair to one side, then to the other, and then in it's usual straight up way. Who ever said that girls take a long time to get ready obviously hadn't met Zell. When he decided to go with his regular 'do, he walked to his closet to pick out his clothes. He opened the door to find that all he had were 3/4 length dark blue jeans, black t-shirts, and red vests. Nothing more, nothing less. So he chose the regular.

He had just finished tying up his shoelace when Irvine arrived at his dorm room to pick him up.

"Come in!" he shouted to his friend.

Irvine walked in wearing his regular suede pants with an ordinary black t-shirt. "Are you almost ready?"

"I am ready," Zell confirmed. "So where are we going?"

"Rinoa won't tell me, she says it's a surprise."

"A surprise from Rinoa? I'm scared," said Zell.

"Me too," Irvine admitted, leading Zell to where Rinoa and Squall were waiting for them in the parking lot.

.-.-.-.-.-

After taking the underground train and a car, the group of four arrived in Fisherman's Horizon.

"This is a surprise all right," Zell whispered into Irvine's ear, "but not in a good way."

Irvine raised his eyebrows in an apologetic way and they followed Rinoa and Squall around FH until they were almost at the Mayor's house.

"Here we are!" Rinoa announced stopping at a table in the middle of the path set for four people.

"Why are we in the middle of nowhere? What's going on here?" Zell demanded to know.

"Welcome back to Fisherman's Horizon."

Zell turned to see the Master Fisherman on the stage with several musicians preparing behind him.

"Please sit down and enjoy this special meal that has been prepared for you; compliments of the staff at Caraway Mansion and Mr. Caraway himself."

The four friends sat down at the private table, while the band on the stage began to play a familiar jig. Shortly the group was served some of the finest foods in the country, along with different flavoured hotdogs for Zell.

Squall leaned closer to Rinoa and asked, "What is all this about?" Clearly he knew just as much about what was going on as Zell or Irvine did.

"Don't you remember?" she asked. "This is where we had our first real date. Well... sort of."

"You went through all the trouble of putting this together just for that?" asked Squall.

"What do you mean 'Just for that'?" asked Rinoa, quickly becoming angered. "That night was the most memorable night I have ever had... Okay, well almost the most memorable... I mean, I've had way more memorable times with Seifer, like the night we-"

"Okay, okay! I get it. I'm sorry, it's just.. How did you manage to get us a private lunch?" asked Squall, impressed with the high quality service.

"I just had a little talk with my dad, that all, and in no time flat he was able to see my view on the situation," Rinoa said proudly, and no one really wanted to know the whole story of Rinoa's 'little talk' with her dad.

.-.-.-.-.-

Squall kept on watching Irvine and Zell throughout the meal, which neither of them noticed, but as the group finished up their fully satisfying lunch, Squall finally had to ask, "What's going on between you two?"

Irvine and Zell immediately began spewing many different excuses at the same time for them being together including that they were studying together from Zell, and that he was getting over Selphie from Irvine.

Squall looked from Irvine to Zell and back to Irvine again before looking at Rinoa for some clarification.

"They're gay," she informed.

"Oooh..." said Squall, finally understanding, and he took the final sip of his white wine.

Irvine and Zell stared at Rinoa with hurt looking expressions on their faces.

"Oh get over yourselves," she said unsympathetically. "He would have found out eventually anyway."

.-.-.-.-.-

"Did you enjoy your lunch?" Irvine asked as he and Zell reached Zell's dorm room and walked in.

"Yeah, it was great! I'm glad we went," said Zell.

"Me too. We should do it again sometime," Irvine hinted.

"Definitely! ... But maybe not with Rinoa and Squall again..."

Irvine smiled. "Yeah, but they're okay."

"Right..." Zell rolled his eyes.

"So... I guess I'll see you in class tomorrow then," said Irvine, taking a step back toward the door.

"Oh, are you going to go already?" asked Zell in an almost pleading little boy voice.

"Yeah, we've got class tomorrow and I haven't really gotten started on the homework yet," he glared teasingly at Zell, "thanks to you."

"Hey, I wasn't the one who asked you to come over and help me, or the one who wanted to go out for lunch today so how can it possibly be my fau-" Zell was silenced by a spontaneous kiss from Irvine.

"I can't stay, I'm sorry. Make sure you finish the questions on page 292." With that, Irvine slipped out of the room and closed the door.

Zell was still stunned from the kiss, but he finally snapped out of it and gave a little half smile.

.-.-.-.-.-

End of Part IX.


	10. Part X

**Disclaimer:** (See Part I.)

**A/N: **Chayn is a character that I made up; I own nothing else but the plot of this story. If the weekend goes good, the next scheduled update is Monday. Enjoy!

.-.-.-.-.-

Zell sat in his second period class, bored out of his mind at the review that the instructor was covering. Since he had already decided that the class wasn't even worth trying to pass anyway, Zell let his mind slip into a dream world. Besides, what was one failed class? He could take it again during the summer in less than half the time that it was taking up now.

"So if is Blizzarga your enemies element, what element should you use when attacking..." the instructor looked around the room at all of the students' bored faces. They were all either on their way to dreamland, or had already made it there. "Zell?"

Zell, who sat by the window, was staring out it at the azure sky and didn't even hear the instructor call his name.

"Zell, what is the answer?"

He remained staring out the window. Normally, Irvine would have elbowed him in the side, but at the moment Irvine's head was down on his desk, hidden by his text book.

The instructor calmly walked over to Zell's desk, though there was nothing calm about his expression. "Zell Dincht!" he took a nearby student's textbook and slammed it down on Zell's desk so hard that it nearly cracked the desk in half.

Zell, and nearly all of the other students, including Irvine, jumped out of their dazes and quickly sat up straight.

Zell stared at the instructor with confusion. "I'm sorry, I was just-"

"Zoning out completely during my class," the instructor answered for him.

"I was not! I was looking at-"

He was cut off again. "And now you are talking back to your instructor." The instructor pointed a finger angrily at Zell and stared deep into his eyes. "I'm warning you, that's two strikes Dincht. Is there anything else you want to add?"

Zell thought a moment. 'Well...' he thought, 'I'm not going to pass anyway.' He looked over at Irvine.

With a pleading looking in his eyes, Irvine shook his head and mouthed the word 'no'.

"Yeah, add this," Zell said, giving his instructor the finger.

Gasps came from a few students around the room and Zell smiled wickedly.

The instructor began to shake violently, and his face became red and blotched. "That's IT Dincht!" he roared, "OUT!"

Zell stood up, glared at the instructor, and walked to the door.

Irvine watched as his best friend went to the door. Maybe he could get the instructor to reconsider. "Sir, he was just-"

"And you, Irvine Kinneas, sleeping in _my_ class? You will go with Zell to the headmaster's office where he can deal with the two of you."

Irvine's mouth dropped to the floor. "What?"

"Pack your belongings," the instructor spat.

.-.-.-.-.-

"I can't believe you did that, Zell," said Irvine in an impressed tone on the way up the elevator to the headmaster's office. "The only problem is, you somehow got me into this."

Zell smiled with pride. "No, you got yourself into this with me. If you hadn't have been dozing, you wouldn't have gotten into trouble. In fact... if you hadn't have been dozing, you would have been able to get my attention back from the window and into the class! Oh well... the old man had it coming."

Irvine's expression became more serious. "Yeah, but did you ever think that this might be the end of the line for your career as a SeeD?"

Zell leaned against the wall in the elevator and dug his hands into his pockets, avoiding eye contact with the taller boy. He didn't say anything to Irvine, but perhaps he had acted so rudely because he did see it as a way to get kicked out of the Garden. What did it matter anyway? He _was _nearly failing. Now his wish would come true.

The elevator dinged as it reached their stop. Both boys stepped out into the hallway and walked into Headmaster Cid's open office.

"I've been expecting you boys," said the headmaster before he had even seen them. "Have a seat."

Irvine and Zell looked at each other before sitting in the chairs on the opposite side of the headmaster's desk.

The headmaster was sitting slouched down in his large chair, rocking it slightly back and forth. His elbows were on the armrests of his chair and his hands were folded as if in prayer, with the tips of his fingers touching his top lip. He remained silent for a long while, merely peering at the two troublesome students over the top of his glasses.

Zell shifted his weight in the uncomfortable silence and Irvine's leg was bouncing up and down restlessly.

Headmaster Cid finally gave a heavy sigh and propped himself up properly in his chair. "I'm very disappointed in you boys, especially you Zell." He narrowed his eyes in Zell's direction and shook his head. "Do either of you have a good excuse for yourselves?"

Irvine shook his head. He should have known better than to fall asleep in class, but it was a particularly boring topic. He would tell that to Headmaster Cid, but he decided that it wasn't exactly the best excuse that he could muster up.

Zell gave the headmaster a blank stare and racked his brain for something that he could say to explain his behaviour, but now he couldn't even remember why it was they were there. He could feel his face become hotter under the stare of the headmaster. All he could think of now was, 'What if he calls Ma?'

"I didn't think so..." Headmaster Cid leaned to the left, placed his elbow on the armrest, and rested his chin in his hand. Then he looked at them with a hopeless expression. "What am I going to do with you two?"

Zell fiddled with a loose sting on his vest, while Irvine moved his eyes away from the conversation and looked out the window. Neither of them wanted to be expelled. Being involved with the Garden was their only source of income. They would have nothing if they were expelled, kicked out, never to return again, fired.

"I think a well thought apology and a week of community service should do it," the headmaster finally concluded.

Irvine's eyes shot back from the window. "You mean... we aren't expelled?"

"You mean _I'm_ not expelled?" Zell nearly jumped out of his seat.

"Of course not. Why would I expel two of the most important students in the Garden? But don't try me. I won't hesitate to expel you both if this starts becoming a habit."

Zell stood you and ran his fingers through his blond hair, not believing his luck.

"Oh no sir, we won't do that." Irvine stood up also leaned over the table to shake the headmaster's hand.

The headmaster stood up and straightened his vest. "Well then, I'll contact you about your community service schedule later this evening, and you will begin tomorrow. This meeting is now over."

Zell turned toward the headmaster, continuously bowing graciously to the man while walking backward in the direction of the elevator. "Thank you, sir."

Back in the elevator, Irvine pressed the button to down. I big grin occupied his face, showing that he obviously didn't believe that they would be able to get off so easily either. He gave a chuckle and turned to Zell. "Can you believe it?"

Zell wiped his eyes with his wrist and shook his head. "No," he replied in a strained tone.

Irvine squinted and took a closer look at Zell. "Hey man... are you crying?"

.-.-.-.-.-

Zell stood up from the floor where he had been trying to clear off at least a little bit of floor and moved to the door where someone had softly, but surely knocked.

It was Chayn standing in the hall with an envelope in his hands. "Ah, Mr. Dincht. How are you feeling this evening?" he asked sincerely.

Zell considered his day and how he had been expelled and replied, "Excellent, thanks, but drop the 'Mr.' okay? That's way too formal for me."

"I'm sorry, sir," Chayn apologized. "I am here with a letter for you from the headmaster. Isn't he a wonderful man?" He handed Zell the envelope.

Zell smiled widely, accepting the letter. "You have no idea... Hey, I thought you were helping out in the Infirmary, not in the headmaster's office."

"Oh, no sir. I am helping in the Infirmary, but I had a meeting with Headmaster Cid about my work and when it was complete he requested that I deliver this to you."

Zell blinked at Chayn's choice of words. "Oh." Then he noticed that the boy was holding another envelope. "So I guess that one's for Irvine?" He nodded his head toward the other envelope.

Chayn smiled. "That is correct, sir."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Zell shook his head and waved his arms around wildly, startling Chayn and making him take a step back. "Just call me Zell."

"Uh... All right... Zell."

"There you go," said Zell, feeling as if he had just accomplished a great feat.

"Well, I have to go and deliver this to Mr. Kinneas now..." Chayn caught the look of disapproval in Zell's face. "I mean Irvine."

Zell nodded and grinned like a proud mother.

"Good night then," said Chayn, turning and walking off down the hall to Irvine's dorm room.

"Night!" Zell called to his back. He closed the door, took his seat back on the messy floor, and opened the letter from Headmaster Cid. At the top it read: "Community Service Schedule". Zell read the first few assignments and nodded his head in agreement to the reasonable, almost too easy, requirements for their punishment. Then he read the next page... and the next.

The first page consisted of simple jobs like, 1. Taking the old woman in Balamb grocery shopping, but Zell noted that the second page was notably more difficult. 5. Help the SeeDs train in real battles. 'That'll be fun...' Zell thought with sarcasm. He read on. 8. Travel to Dollet to help them in the sewers. 13. Travel to Shumi Village to assist the Sculptor with the sculpture. 15. Help the Chocobo Kid find all of his missing chocobos. And lastly, 22. Help Seifer, Raijin, and Fujin with their Garden assembly? 'What?' Zell read it again to make sure that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.

The list was practically as bad as being expelled from the Garden, not to mention that Zell would hardly even be in class for the next week. _Week_? Did the headmaster really think that all of these things could be done in a _week_? Zell stood up and stormed out of the room and down the hall to Irvine's dorm.

He was about to pound on the door when it was whipped open by Irvine from the inside. "Did you read this list?" he asked calmly. "Does the headmaster think that all this can be done in a week?"

"I know!" exclaimed Zell. "What does he think we are? Traveling miracle workers?"

Irvine flipped through the pages from the headmaster. "This list is like, five pages long. And check this one out: 7. Help Selphie with her 'Save the Pupu Campaign'. Does he hate me or what?"

"That's nothing, did you see number 22?" asked Zell.

Irvine glanced over his papers. "No, what does it say?" He leaned over Zell's shoulder while his friend read aloud how they had to help out Seifer and his posse. Irvine laughed to himself.

"What's so funny?" Zell demanded.

Irvine held out his list to Zell to see. "My list only goes up to twenty-one."

.-.-.-.-.-

End of Part X.


	11. Part XI

**Disclaimer:** (See Part I.)

**A/N:** Chayn is a character that I made up; I own nothing else but the plot of this story.

**To my readers/reviewers:** WOW! I'll bet you all thought I had vanished! Now that school is over (with the exception of, perhaps, summer school) I've decided that I'm gonna get back to the story now that I've left you hanging for sooo long. (Not like you didn't have anything better to read...) Please accept my sincere apologies and keep on reviewing! Now let's get back into the groove!

.-.-.-.-

Early that morning, far earlier then Zell had ever woken up at voluntarily, he and Irvine sat in the Cafeteria eating breakfast and going over the first day's activities.

"I'll take the little old lady shopping if you help the kid in the alley find his cat," Irvine proposed.

"Okay," Zell agreed, knowing that he didn't have enough patience to take the old lady shopping anyway, and they went their separate way, agreeing to meet up in Balamb later.

.-.-.-.-

Irvine knocked on the door of the little old lady's appartment.

She abruptly opened the door a crack to peer out at the potential intruder. "What do you want?" she snapped.

"I'm a student at Balamb Garden. Name's Irvine." He tipped his hat. "I'm here to take you shopping Ma'am." He stepped closer.

"Hey! Don't move or I'll call the front desk." The woman gave Irvine an untrusting glance over.

"Mom, who're you talking to?" came a voice from inside the room.

The little woman disappeared into the appartment and a middle-aged woman opened the door all the way, despite the elder woman's objection in the background.

"You must be Irvine." She held out her hand to shake Irvine's. "I'm Stacy, June's daughter. Sorry that you have to take my mother shopping, but since I broke my leg..." she indicated her cast leg, "I can't do much of _anything_."

Irvine nodded his understanding. "It's no trouble at all, I assure you."

Stacy suppressed a laugh and gently pulled her mother back to the door. "Mom, this nice young man, Irvine, is going to take you shopping today."

"Oh no he's not!" June shook her boney finger in Irvine's direction.

Stacy appologized for her mother's difficultness and forcefully pushed her out of the appartment. "Good luck." She smiled encouragingly at Irvine before closing and locking the door.

June stared up at Irvine with a sour face, obviously not intimidated by his height as he towered over her. "Don't just stand there... Move!"

Irvine scrambled to get the little lady out of the appartment building and to the grocery store as quickly as possible, wishing that he was looking for a cat instead.

.-.-.-.-

Zell bent over and peeked behind the garbage cans for the mischievous cat wishing that he had taken the old lady shopping instead. His arms and legs were scratched in all directions and he was becoming fed up. He could hear a low purring coming from the near the brick wall. He put his head close to the ground and reached with one arm behind the can to try and reach the cat.

He felt a tail, grabbed onto it, and pulled the cat out from behind the garabage cans. It hissed and clawed wildly before realizing that Zell wasn't going to let go of it this time. It gave up trying to resist Zell and latched onto his face, chewing on the top of his forehead.

Zell struggled to get the cat to let go of his face, hoping that his eyes would survive the attack.

The cat loosened its latch and Zell threw the cat away from him as fast as he could. The cat landed on it's feet and scampered down the alleyway.

"She's getting away!" cried the little owner of the cat. "Quick, let's get her!"

Zell heaved to catch his breath.

"You can't give up; you were so close!" the boy encouraged.

Zell gathered himself and chased after the animal that was causing way more damage than it was worth. If he weren't so angry, Zell might have chuckled at his Karma.

.-.-.-.-

"Ow!" Irvine flinched as June whacked her purse into his side for the forth time since they had left the appartment.

"I don't want the green peppers, I only like the red ones! Can't you read the list? Put those back and get me the red ones," June fummed, pointing to the red peppers.

A couple shopping passed Irvine giving him sympathetic looks.

Irvine switched the peppers and looked back at the list. It clearly read green peppers, but he was too afraid to comment on it. He crossed it off the list.

"What's next?" grumbled June.

"Green Tea."

June shook her head. "Doctor says I should have Green Tea, but I don't drink it. The only thing I'll drink is coffee. What's next?"

"Soya Milk."

"I won't drink nothing but 2. Get me some of that."

Irvine did as he was told.

"Next?"

Irvine went down the list naming off all the things on it, but June kept on rejecting them all and got only what she wanted instead.

"Okay, I think that'll do for now," Irvine was relieved to hear June say when he could barely see over the top of the buggy it was so full.

"You're total comes to 168.49," said the cashier.

"What?" asked June.

"One sixty-eigh-"

"I heard you the first time, I'm not deaf yet!" June turned to Irvine. "How could it come to that much? We only bought what was on the list."

"Actually, you didn't want what was on the list and picked it out yourself," Irvine told truthfully, and flinched as the purse came flying at him again.

"Well why did you let me do that?"

"I couldn't stop you," shielding himself in case of another whack.

"Would you hurry it up?" asked an impatient shopper inline behind Irvine and June.

June turned her nose to the air. "I don't want it anymore."

Irvine's jaw nearly hit the floor. "What?"

"You heard me, let's go. Take me home." June left the store.

"Sorry," Irvine apologized to the cashier and the person who came to put all of June's groceries back on the shelf. They didn't look like very friendly people, and Irvine made a mental note never to step back into that grocery store again.

.-.-.-.-

Zell and the boy had finally cornered the cat. She hissed at them and her fur stood on end.

"Here Kitty-Kitty," Zell cooed through clenched teeth. He could see it in her eyes that as soon as he made a move to grab her, she would scamper through his legs and back to the other side of the alley, and Zell really didn't want to chance her going through his legs.

"I'll go at her from the side and then you grab her when she runs," suggested the boy.

Zell wasn't hopeful that the plan would work, but agreed nonetheless.

"On three. One... Two... THREE!" The boy lunged for his cat and she immediately took off toward Zell, whom snatched her up and wrapped her tighly in his vest so that she couldn't scratch him again.

"Yay!" the boy celebrated. "We got her!" The boy took his insane cat from Zell's arms and thanked him before taking the animal home.

Zell was proud of his accomplishment but wondered if he would now need his rabies shots.

.-.-.-.-

"How was taking the old lady shopping?" asked Zell with envy as he walked up to Irvine and sat down next to him on the bench.

Irvine rolled his eyes. "Great..." he lifted his shirt to show Zell what June's purse had done to him.

Zell gasped at the bruises that marked Irvine's otherwise perfect torso.

"Nice face..." commented Irvine. "Have fun with the cat?"

Zell looked at Irvine with an expression that told him he that he didn't want to talk about it. "What's next on the list?"

"Now we have to go to Timber to organize magazines," said Irvine. "Ready to go?"

"No," replied Zell. He didn't want to go anywhere after the last job, and with all the running around that they were going to have to do, he didn't know when he was going to be able to get closer to Irvine.

"Common," Irvine urged. "At least this task isn't a stressful one, besides, the Headmaster wants us to do this one together."

Zell gave a little smile. "Okay, I'm ready, lets get a train ticket."

.-.-.-.-

The two purchased their tickets and arrived in Timber a little after noon. While on the train they ate lunch, not wanting to waste anytime serving their punishment.

They walked up the steps of the Timber Maniacs building and went inside. Irvine walked up to the lady sitting at the desk.

"Welcome to Timber Maniacs. Can I help you?" the lady greeted.

"Um, yeah, we're here from Balamb Garden to organize magazines."

"Oh right," the lady remembered, "come with me." She led them to a room. "Here you go. Please shelve them all by volume."

Irvine and Zell walked into the room and found themselves up to their chins in stacks of magazines.

Zell now realized why Headmaster Cid had wanted them to work together on sorting the magazines. "How many are there?"

"Five thousand two hundred and seventy-two," the lady smiled and closed the door to the room, leaving them to their doom.

.-.-.-.-

End of Part XI.


	12. Part XII

**Disclaimer:** (See Part I.)

**A/N:** Chayn is a character that I made up; I own nothing else but the plot of this story.

**To my readers/reviewers:** Another update especially for Lady Pyrefly, and a little more Zell/Irvine for QueenAdreena. Keep the reviews coming all! I love them.

-.-.-.-.-

Five thousand two hundred and seventy-two volumes of Timber Maniacs later, Irvine and Zell were completely exhausted and immediately went to the Timber hotel to spend whatever hours were remaining before dawn sleeping.

-.-.-.-.-

Irvine walked down the seemingly endless blue-carpetedcorridor. He didn't know where it led too, but the only choices that he had were to stay where he was, or keep on walking.

He walked and walked until eventually he saw the silhouette of a figure standing up ahead of him. He quickened his pace in fear that the person might disappear. He had to find out where he was, and how to get out of the bizarre corridor.

As he moved closer to the silhouette the once blue carpet faded into grey, and the figure's features became more clear and he recognized the person as Zell. He was clothed in loose, flowing black robes from head to foot, and at his foot was an alligator.

"Zell. What is this place? How do we get out of here?" asked Irvine.

Zell held his finger up to his mouth in a gesture to quiet his friend. He looked up to the ceiling. Irvine followed his line of sight and stood, amazed, as the corridor walls vanished and he found himself on top a grassy cliff-side in a black and white world.

A raven, black as a northern night, flew between the two and soared past Irvine, nearly brushing his head as it went.

Irvine watched as the swoosh of black flew off into the distance behind him. He turned back to Zell only to see that he was no longer standing there, but was now at the feet of Chayn where the alligator had been moments earlier.

There was something strange about Chayn though, that Irvine was now registering. He was holding something that looked like a dagger and it was dripping with . . . blood, and Zell wasn't just at Chayn's feet, he was bent over holding his stomach.

"Stop!" Irvine shouted at Chayn. "What are you doing?" He took a few steps toward the two on the cliff-side.

Chayn murmured something under his breath before pushing Zell over the edge of the cliff.

Irvine raced to the edge in a losing attempt to catch Zell.

Chayn threw his head back and laughed at Irvine's desperate attempt to save his friend.

Irvine turned to Chayn and grabbed him by the shirt. "Have you gone insane?"

Chayn stopped laughing and looked at Irvine with a blank stare. "What?" he asked, grabbing Irvine by the shoulders and pushing him toward the edge of the cliff as well.

Irvine's heel began to slide off the edge of the cliff. For a little guy Chayn was proving to be quite stronger than Irvine had ever anticipated. He pushed back with all his might, but soon found himself falling . . . falling . . .

CRASH!

Irvine landed hard on the floor, struggling to get out of the bed sheet he was tangled up in. As soon as he freed himself from the sheet he jumped up and his eyes flew to the bed.

Zell was fine and still asleep. He whimpered in him sleep and mumbled something incomprehensibly, though the word 'hotdog' could be understood.

Irvine blinked and rubbed his head. 'What a dream,' he thought. He reached for his jacket on the night table and pulled it on, still pondering his recent dream. What did it mean? Maybe it was a-

"Sign!" shouted Zell in his sleep. "Read the sign!"

Irvine jumped. Was his dream a sign? Was Chayn going to kill Zell? Impossible! Maybe he should stay away from high cliffs though. Not that he believed that his dreams had any prophetic meaning to them, but he didn't want to take any chances just in case.

Once Zell had forcefully been awoken by Irvine, they bought a train ticket back to Balamb where they're next few tasks would be completed.

-.-.-.-.-

To the boys' surprise the tasks so far hadn't been all that difficult to complete. They got through helping the new SeeDs through their training with relative ease, as the group was overall well behaved. Now they were on their way to the Quad to help set up the stage for Selphie's 'Save the Pupu Campaign'.

"What do you think we'll have to do for this?" asked Zell.

Irvine shrugged, not really caring what he had to do so long as it didn't involve talking to Selphie for very long.

Selphie stood on the floor in front of the stage pointing two men carrying a large screen to where she wanted it to be placed for her presentation.

"Looks like we're going to help set up." Zell answered his own question.

Selphie looked to Zell and Irvine as they approached her, Irvine a short distance behind Zell. "I've been waiting for you to show up," she said more to Zell than Irvine.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," said Zell. "What do you need us to do?"

"Would you mind setting up the lights?" She pointed to the left. "There's a ladder over there that you can use, and then you just have to hang the lights over the bars up there." She pointed up.

"Sure thing," Zell said happily, going off to get the ladder.

Selphie and Irvine's eyes met for an awkward moment before Selphie broke the stare and left to set up something else.

Irvine sighed and went to help Zell with the ladder and lights.

-.-.-.-.-

Once the lights had been set up, Selphie went back over to the boys. "Nice job," she congratulated the two. "Now, if only Irvine were that proficient a boyfriend." She spoke to Zell, but was looking straight at Irvine.

Irvine furrowed his eyebrows with a tinge of hurt to his ego.

Zell quickly glanced back and forth between the two, wondering if he should say something or walk away and pretend he didn't hear anything.

"At least Seifer knows how to treat a girl right. It would do you good to use him as an example. I feel sorry for the next girl that you hook up with," Selphie went on as if she couldn't control herself, letting out all of the hurt that Irvine had caused her and putting it back on him.

"Uh . . . So Selphie, is there anything else you want us to-"

"Oh right, yeah, there is. Could you please help me take these boxes over to the other wall?"

Zell nodded and picked up one of the boxes, relieved that he had ended the conversation before it had a chance to escalate and grow like an unstoppable rolling snowball.

Selphie picked up a box too, and Irvine joined it.

Selphie scampered to catch up to Zell, whom was a little ways ahead of her. "You know what Seifer did for me yesterday?" she asked.

"Um . . ." Zell didn't really want to know nor did he really care, but he didn't want to hurt Selphie's feelings. "What?"

"He came all the way from a studying the Cactuar population on Cactuar Island to come here and see me for just a few minutes," she said, making sure that he said it within hearing range for Irvine. "I think all of my 'Save the Pupu' talk has been a great influence on him. Do you know what he said to me when he came all the way back here?"

Zell looked over his shoulder to where Irvine was listening intently to hear what Selphie would say. "Uh, what did he say?"

"He said that he couldn't stand being away from me for such a long time and that he just _had_ to come back and see me!" Selphie beamed.

"Hasn't he only been gone for a few days?" asked Zell, confused as to why Seifer would say that he missed her after such a short time.

"Well, yeah, but that's how much he _cares _about _me_!" Selphie said very 'matter-of-factly'.

"Oh," Zell said as if he understood the logic behind Seifer's return.

Irvine couldn't believe how much Selphie was praising Seifer. They hadn't even been going out for that long a time. He scrunched up his face in disgust thinking about how Selphie could drop him so readily and move on so quickly. How _could_ she?

Selphie noticed Irvine's look. "Why are you sulking Irvine; can't stand to hear the truth? That I'm in love with Seifer now? Get over it and move on. I'm not going to be coming back to you this time, or _any_ time for that matter."

Zell was surprised by Selphie's change in moods. She must have been _really _mad at Irvine, but he really didn't understand the situation all that well. This time he decided that it would be better to just walk away and pretend that he hadn't heard anything. He put down his box and went to get another one.

"Irvine, why don't you just go and find someone else and stop moping around like it's the end of the world?" ordered Selphie.

Irvine became determined to stand up for himself now. Who did Selphie think she was, telling him how to live his life? She didn't know what he had been through since their break up, or anything related to how he was feeling now. "Well maybe I already _have_ found someone else, did you ever think of that?" he nearly shouted at her.

Zell, who was in the middle of picking up a box, blushed a pretty pink colour.

Selphie was stunned silent for a moment; Irvine wasn't sure what she would say.

"Well, good. I'm glad!" she said finally and went to get another box.

Zell walked past Irvine with a worried look on his pink face. Irvine just watched him pass.

-.-.-.-.-

Later on that night Irvine lye awake in bed. He rolled over and rolled over again but he could fall asleep. His dream from earlier that morning was on his mind, making him unable to sleep. He glanced at his clock.

10:47pm.

Thirteen minutes before lights out. He wondered if he should quickly go to Zell's room and talk to him about it. Maybe he could help him decipher the dream. He threw off his sheets, jumped into some semi-suitable clothes, and dashed out of his dorm room to Zell's.

He knocked on the door.

Zell opened the door. The smiley face that he had had on before he opened the door disappeared when he saw who his visitor was. "What are you doing here? It's almost lights out."

"Hey, what's with the warm welcome?" Irvine asked sarcastically. "I know it's almost lights out, but I had a dream this morning and it's been on my mind ever since."

"So go to a psychic."

Irvine paused for a minute to consider the possibility of a psychic. Then he pushed his way past Zell and into the first room, which wasn't any cleaner than it had been before. "No, I don't need a psychic, I just wanted to tell you about it. Ya know, get it off my mind?"

"Okay," Zell agreed, "but make it fast."

"Okay, well I was in this tunnel with a blue carpet and I was walking down it, and I was the only one there, but then I saw this person up ahead and- What's the matter with you?"

Zell was wearing a miserable expression, which clearly indicated that he didn't really want to hear about Irvine's dream and that there was something on him mind as well.

"Huh? Oh, it doesn't matter how I feel, go on."

"Okay . . . Wait! What? Of course it matters, tell me what's wrong," Irvine urged.

"No, it's nothing," Zell assured, brushing a hand trough his hair. "If you don't hurry up and tell me, you will be kicked out of here before you finish what you wanna say."

"I'm not leaving until you tell me what's wrong," Irvine promised.

"Fine, get yourself kicked out of here by the guards than, I don't care." Zell took a step in the direction of his room, but was quickly pulled back around to face Irvine.

"What's with you? You weren't acting like this earlier."

"Well earlier you hadn't gone and made me pissed," Zell snapped.

"What? Me? What did I do?" asked Irvine, not understanding at all where Zell was coming from.

"Never mind, it's nothing. Let me go." Zell tugged on his arm, but Irvine kept a firm grip.

"Not until you tell me," he said more seriously this time.

Zell sighed. He obviously wasn't going to win this conversation. "Well, it's just that . . . I feel like I'm just a prop to you, like I'm just a way to get back at Selphie because she left you and has found someone new already."

"Is that what you think?" asked Irvine, relieved that the problem wasn't more serious. "Don't you think that if I was just using you to get back at Selphie that I would have told her that it was you that I'm with?"

Zell thought about the logic of the statement for a second before shrugging his shoulders. "Yeah, I suppose."

"See? There's nothing to worry about," Irvine comforted. "I'm not trying to get back at Selphie, she's just trying to make me feel sorry that she left me. I'm already past that stage." He waved a hand dismissingly through the air. "I just had to tell her that I was with someone else so that she would stop talking down to me and bragging about Seifer. That's all it was."

Zell nodded his understanding.

"All right?" asked Irvine.

"All right," Zell repeated.

"Good, because the last thing I want is for you to feel like you're being used." Irvine pulled the shorter boy into an embrace and lightly kissed the side of his tattooed face.

A knock on the door caused Irvine let go of Zell so that he could answer the door.

"Good evening, Zell. Lights out and all students in their dormitories."

"Since when have you been going around telling older students when to go to bed, Chayn?" asked Zell, slightly amused.

Irvine's eyes widened. Chayn? He had now become suspicious of the younger boy's every movement and motivation.

"Oh, only since Headmaster Cid asked me to do so yesterday," he replied. "I do, however, want to speak with you alone sometime when Irvine is not with you."

'How did he know I was in the room?' Irvine wondered bewilderedly.

"Sure," Zell agreed, oblivious to the warnings that Irvine was trying to give him from behind the door.

"Wonderful!" said Chayn, taking a step back. "Good night."

"Night." Zell closed the door and turned back to Irvine, who was now quite pale. "What?"

Irvine blinked out of his state. "Nothing, it's late, I should go."

"But you were going to tell me about your dream."

"I'll tell you another time, but please, don't talk to Chayn until I tell you about my dream okay?"

"O . . . kay?"

"Okay," Irvine repeated and gave Zell another quick kiss on the cheek before quickly dashing out the door and down the hall to his dorm, leaving Zell utterly confused.

Zell shrugged off Irvine's requests not to speak to Chayn. There was nothing wrong with the boy, he was just uber polite. What did Irvine care if Chayn talked to him anyway? Over protective much? If Chayn wanted to talk to Zell, then he would indulge the boy.

-.-.-.-.-

End of Part XII.


	13. Part XIII

**Disclaimer:** (See Part I.)

**A/N:** Chayn is a character that I made up; I own nothing else but the plot of this story.

-.-.-.-.-

The end of the week approached rather quickly, considering that Zell and Irvine thought that it would never arrive when they had received the list of tasks on Monday. On Saturday around noon, Irvine completed his last task and Zell didn't have to help Seifer until then next day, so they were free to take some time off. They had been waiting for some down time all week.

"Now that you're off, and I don't have to do anything 'til tomorrow, how about we go get some hotdogs? I'm starved!" Zell put a hand on his grumbling stomach.

"Yeah, we can do that, but first, I think we should find our classmates and find out what homework we missed," said Irvine. "Especially you... No offense."

Zell shrugged. "Maybe some of them will be in the cafeteria," he suggested hopefully.

"I don't think so," said Irvine. "The ones who actually copy down the homework from the board are the ones who spend hours and hours in the library."

Zell's shoulders dropped. "But I'm hungry!" he complained.

"It'll only take a mintue to go to the library, don't be such a sissy." Irvine walked in the direction of the library.

"Hey! I'm not a sissy!" Zell objected and followed Irvine.

-.-.-.-.-

Zell was surprised when it turned out that Irvine had been right about the intelligent students spending a lot of time in the library. They walked up to a Trepe Groupie and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Excuse me," said Irvine, "do you have this weeks homework for second period?"

"Just a sec," said the girl. She scribbled something down in her notes before flipping through her panner to where she had written down the homework. She wrote it down on a separate piece of paper and handed it to Irvine. "Oh, hey Irvine," she exclaimed, having looked up from her books for the first time to see who was talking to her. "Were you and Zell expelled?"

"If we were expelled, would I be here asking you for the homework?" asked Irvine.

"I guess not," she replied. "Well, good luck with the homework. I'll be here the rest of the afternoon if you need any help with it." She smiled sweetly. "I have to finish this report for my last period class on the affects of GF's on a users memories."

Irvine thanked the Trepe Groupie and turned back to Zell. "Told you I could it here."

Zell nodded looking impressed. "Now can we go get some hotdogs?"

"In a minute. Come over here." Irvine pulled Zell over to the side of the library so that they could talk in private.

" 'Sup?" asked Zell.

"I just wanted to tell you about that dream I had earlier. It's been on my mind constantly and I just want you to know now so that I will stop forgetting to tell you about it."

Zell stomach growled again, but he tried to ignore it. "Okay, tell me now."

Irvine nodded, looking a little distraught. He told Zell all about his dream and about his suspicion of Chayn, and then waited for Zell's response.

"I told ya you should go see a psychic," Zell said all knowingly, not frightened in the least by the dream that Irvine assumed to be prophetic. "I think you're reading way too much into that dream, man."

"Maybe, but either way, you shouldn't be alone with Chayn. I don't trust him."

Zell looked to the side and chuckled to himself before looking back at Irvine's serious face. "Listen, there's nothing wrong with Chayn, he's just a friendly SeeD-in-training. You've got absolutely nothing against him."

"Good afternoon, Zell... Irvine." Chayn seemed to come up to them out of no where.

Irvine jumped away from the younger boy with fright that he might suck out their souls or put a curse on them if they got too close.

"Hey Chayn. What are you doing here?" asked Zell.

"I am doing some research on an ancient fungi for Dr. Kadowaki," Chayn explained.

'Yeah right,' thought Irvine. 'More like learning how to concoct an evil curse.'

Chayn glanced at Irvine and smiled innocently.

'Don't gimme that look,' thought Irvine, and gave him an 'I'm-on-to-you' glare.

"Well, it was nice to see you both. Don't forget, Zell, that I need to speak with you some time," Chayn reminded before going to a book shelf and pulling out a rather large hard cover that Irvine hoped would crush the puny kid.

Zell and Irvine left the library and made their way to the cafeteria.

"What's with you, Irv? You're all jumpy. Are you really that scared that something is gonna happen?"

Irvine tried to speak calmly. "Haven't you noticed that Chayn seems to pop up out of thin air a lot? Doesn't that strike you as a little odd?"

"Well, he does kinda sneak up on people, but that's 'cause he's so quiet that people don't hear him coming," Zell reasoned, but reasoning was beyond Irvine.

"I think he's into black magic or something, and he's gonna put a curse on me any day now if he hasn't already." Irvine looked around with shifty eyes.

"Irvine, that's just nonsense. Now why can't you just leave the kid alone?" They turned to go into the crowded cafeteria. "Is it 'cause you're jealous that he wants to talk to me and not you?"

"No!" Irvine objected in a childish manner.

"Then just forget about that dream and move on," Zell instructed.

Irvine promised not to say anything more about Chayn and the possibility of him preforming black magic, but that didn't mean that he would stop thinking about it.

-.-.-.-.-

"Hey you two!" sung the familiar voice of Quistis. "I see you are both studying like good boys."

Irvine and Zell looked up from the table where they sat in the library trying to catch up on a lot of the homework that they had missed.

"I heard that you two went on a double date with Rinoa and Squall," Quistis crossed her arms in front of her and pouted. I wish I would have gone. That would have been so cute to see you two!"

Zell's face went red and he thought, 'Rinoa and her big, stupid mouth.' He looked back down at his homework and tried to concentrate hard on memorizing where all of the cities and villages were located on the world map.

"Yeah, maybe next time we feel like becoming a spectacle," replied Irvine.

Quistis looked hurt. "I was only saying... Oh nevermind." She walked away from them feeling slightly flustered.

Irvine looked to Zell. "Hey, we should do something again soon. Maybe next weekend, assuming that we get caught up on all this homework."

Zell nodded his head. "Yeah, sure," he replied half-heartedly, but Irvine didn't take notice.

"Great." Irvine closed his text book and began to back up his belonging.

"Where are you going?" asked Zell.

"I'm going to report to Headmaster Cid now that I have finished all of my community service." He stood up. "I'll catch ya later."

Irvine left, leaving Zell to let his mind wandered from his homework to thought of Irvine. Why was the taller boy getting on his nerves all of a sudden? Maybe it was the fact that he had spent so much time with him out and about all week completing their tasks.

He wasn't sure why he was feeling this way, but he felt as if he was being held back from being his true self becuase of Irvine. Like he couldn't say what was really on his mind when Irvine was around. It wasn't that Irvine was shooting him down everytime that he opened his mouth, he wasn't, but he was getting so uptight and protective of Zell ever since he had had that dream. Zell felt like as if he were being strangled.

Zell blinked back to reality. He had to study the map. Dollet, Balamb, Fisherman's Horizon, Cactuar Island... That's where Seifer had been. Seifer had changed quite a bit since the last time Zell had talk to him, or rather, the last time that he had made fun of Zell. That had been months ago. Zell wondered what was becoming of the world. Maybe helping Seifer the next day wouldn't be as bad as he had thought it would be.

-.-.-.-.-

"No, Raijin, I said to put the microphone on the left side of the stage," Seifer shouted across the room.

Raijin looked up. "This is the left side of the stage!"

"IDIOT!" Fujin picked up the microphone and carried it to the other side of the stage.

Zell walked into the Quad where he had preiously helped Selphie set up for her Pupu Campaign.

"There you are!" Seifer exclaimed upon seeing Zell, hoping that he would be more competent that Raijin. "Cid told me that you would be here to help."

"Yep," Zell replied unenthusiastically. "What can I do?"

"Why so glum, chum?" Seifer asked in a totally uncharacteristical way.

"Huh?" responded Zell in a surprised tone.

"What's the matter? Aren't you excited to be here? I'm going to give a lecture on the Cactuars of Cactuar Island to the students who are interested," Seifer explained. "If I do a good job, Cid said that he might consider hiring me as a substitute instructor!"

'Seifer has definitely changed,' thought Zell, observing his eerie 'happy-go-lucky' outlook on life. Selphie must have really been having an impact on him. "That's good."

"Good? It's great! Becoming an instructor has become my new passion in life!" Seifer proclaimed to the world.

"Wish I had a passion," Zell mumbled.

Seifer put a hand on Zell's shoulder. "You're in luck today, my friend, because today your passion is to be a Cactuar." He held up a Cactuar mascot costume for Zell.

"Wonderful..." Zell rolled his eyes sarcastically.

"Isn't it?" asked Seifer. He looked to the stage to see how Rajin was doing. "No, Raijin, I don't want the screen to go there, it has to go on the right!" He pointed to the right.

"This is the right!" Raijin shouted back to him.

Fujin walked over to Raijin and rolled the screen to the other side of the stage. "HOPELESS!"

Zell took his Cactuar and walked to the other side of the room to change. Just what he had always wanted... to be a Cactuar.

"Hey Zell," Seifer called to his back, "don't go '1000 Needles' on anyone, okay?"

-.-.-.-.-

End of Part XIII.


	14. Part XIV

**Disclaimer:** (See Part I.)

**A/N:** Chayn is a character that I made up; I own nothing else but the plot of this story.

**To my readers/reviewers:** Thanks so much for all the reviews, I love getting your feedback! (It keeps me going.) Keep it up!

-.-.-.-.-

Zell moved swiftly to get to the door and open it for the visitor, but Irvine turned the knob and walked in after the first knock.

"Common in," Zell offered, though he didn't really have any other choice.

"Hey Zell," the taller man moved quickly and caught Zell off guard with a kiss.

Zell pulled back, causing Irvine to stare at him in question with raised eyebrown. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing, I just uh... have to get my things together for class," Zell quickly changed the subject.

"Okay, no rush, we've still got time. I can wait." Irvine flopped down on the sqeaky couch and crossed his legs. "Don't just stand there, common, get your stuff," he urged Zell.

Zell walked to his bag that lay on his bed and finished putting his books into it. "Okay, let's go."

Irvine was standing by the door once again; he turned and open it.

"Good morning, Mr. Irvine," greeted Chayn.

Irvine jumped at the sudden appearance of the younger boy.

"Hey Chayn," Zell came up behind his paled friend. "Whatcha doin' here?"

"I have been transfered from Battle Training into your review class, because the instructor told Headmaster Cid that he didn't think that I was ready for the field yet." Chayn made a face. "It is utter nonsense, though. I was clearly better than half of the other students."

Irvine rolled his eyes and thought to himself that the instructor probably just couldn't stand the boy's attitude.

Zell shrugged, pushing Irvine aside to lock the door. "I don't think you'll find our instructor any better."

"He cannot be worse," said Chayn.

"I dunno..." muttered Zell, and the three boys left the dorm hall for class.

-.-.-.-.-

To Irvine's dislike, Chayn sat right across the aisle from Zell in class. The instructor set Chayn up with his own set of textbooks and took an immediate liking to the book-smart student.

Both Irvine and Zell were surprised to find that Chayn knew more of the review that they had been working on than they themselves did.

"Chayn, how do ya know so much of the stuff we're doing?" Zell asked after class had ended.

The younger boy shrugged. "Well, I really like to read, and I have already read through all of the Junior SeeD textbooks, so I moved on to some of the more advanced Senior SeeD books."

"Uh huh..." Irvine rolled his eyes. He would have done anything to get away from the boy, but he refused to leave Zell alone with him.

Zell elbowed Irvine in the side. "Wow, that's a lot of reading!"

Chayn smiled proudly.

"Well, if you aren't in our next class, Zell and I have to be going this way now." Irvine hastily pulled Zell down a different hallway.

Chayn waved goodbye and continued on in the other direction.

"What's the matter with you Irvine? I told you, he's not going to put a spell on me _or_ try and kill me, so why don't you just chill?"

Irvine didn't know what to say. He knew it had just been a dream, but it had felt so real. In reality though, he couldn't hold much against the kid. He looked away from the blond's staring eyes.

"Common, let's get to class." Zell walked past Irvine down the hall.

Irvine put a hand in his pocket and slowly followed.

-.-.-.-.-

Zell sat on his squeaky couch trying his best to complete his homework while having extreme difficulties. He leaned his head on his hand as he tried again to remember what a Raldo and a Granaldo looked like. Just when he thought that he almost had it, there was a knock on his door.

Irvine was really starting to get on his nerves. Didn't the guy have anyone else to bug? Didn't he have homework, too? Zell thought that he was becoming way too obsessive. He went to the door and opened it, but this time, it wasn't Irvine who stood there. It was Chayn.

"Good afternoon, Zell," he greeted.

"Chayn!" Zell was surprised to see the younger boy outside of his dorm room instead of Irvine. "What's up?"

"Nothing much, may I come in?" he asked.

Zell hesitated. 'I should really get back to doing that homework,' he thought, but he didn't want to have to turn the boy away. "Yeah, of course." He moved out of the way so that the younger boy could walk in. "Just as long as you don't mind the mess."

Chayn walked into the messy dorm room that Zell had been 'trying' to clean for the longest time. "No, the mess is fine. My dorm isn't exactly the cleanest either."

Zell seriously doubted that Chayn's room could possibly compete to his own pig's sty, but he gave a chuckle at the thought of Chayn having a messy room. "So what brings you here?"

Chayn took the room in at a glance. "This dorm is much nicer than my own. I cannot wait to become a SeeD if it comes with this luxury. I still have to share my dorm."

"I know what that's like," Zell sympathized with Chayn. Then he noticed his open textbook on the couch, waiting to be studied. "Hey, I'd love for you to stay, but I should really get back to doing the review."

"Oh, you are still working on that?" asked Chayn.

"You're finished?" asked Zell, not believing that Chayn could have already finished the homework that he himself have been working on since the moment he'd walked into his room.

"Oh yes, it was a cinch. That is part of the reason I came over."

Zell raised an eyebrown.

"During lunch I had the most interesting conversation with the instructor of the review class and he told me that you were having some difficulties with the rev-"

"What? He told _you_ that I was having difficulties, why was he talking to you about me? How many people has he talked to about my marks?"

"Calm down Zell. He only told me because he noticed that I sat down next to you in class. He was actually worried that your behaviour would rub off on me." Chayn chuckled to himself.

Zell snarled.

"Anyway, I was just wondering if you would like some extra help with any of the work? I could help you review for the test next week if you like."

"We have a test next week?"

Chayn nodded. "I think you will learn a lot if you get to know your instructors better."

Zell snorted. "Whatever."

Chayn moved to the door. "Well, if you do not want my help, I'm sorry to have bothered you. I'll be going now."

"Wait! I never said I didn't want your help. I need all the help I can get!" Zell invited the boy back into the room. He picked up the textbook and pointed to the question that he was stuck on. "I can't remember what a Raldo and a Granaldo are."

"That's an easy one," Chayn smiled. "Here, I'll show you how to remember them."

Within the hour, Zell was able to recite the names and descriptions of nearly all the beasts on the left side of the world map with little to no difficulty.

"Wow! I've never been able to remember _any_ of this stuff! Thanks a lot, man."

Chayn smiled. "A little repitition is all that you needed."

"Hey, would you mind if I passed some of what you've told me to Irvine? He could probably use some of the stuff you told me, too."

"Go ahead, but I do not think you should tell his that I am the one who told you. I don't think Irvine likes me very much..." Chayn said with a little disappointment.

"He's just got... other things on his mind," said Zell, not wanting to go into the topic of how Irvine thought that Chayn was doing black magic.

"Like that library girl."

Zell smirked. "Yeah, like the library girl." Then he realized what Chayn had said. "What?"

"Irvine has his mind on the library girl. He is always in the library; I saw him there earlier today. Yesterday he asked me if I knew where he could find her." Chayn looked helpless. "I do not think his mind is where it should be. He should be doing the review homework."

Zell narrowed his eye. "Indeed..."

-.-.-.-.-

Irvine knocked desperately on Zell's door.

Zell flung it open. "What's the urgency? Who died?" He looked up and down the hall wildly.

"No one died, let me in." Irvine pushed past Zell to get into the room.

"What's the matter than? Why are you out of breath?" asked Zell.

Irvine's complexion was pale. "You let him _in_!"

Zell sighed, relieved that nothing was wrong. "Yeah, I let him in. He came by to help me with the review."

"What?" asked Irvine in disbelief. "Not possible. He's probably trying to brainwash you!" He paused a moment and pouted. "I thought it was my job to help you with the review?"

"Ya know, that 'Chayn is evil' bull is getting old, man, and if it's your job to help me study then where were you?" Zell folded his arms in front of him and waited for Irvine's reply.

Irvine thought carefully. "I was, uh, in the library..."

"Hitting on the library girl."

"No!" Irvine objected. "Where did you hear that from?"

"Chayn."

Irvine rolled his eyes and pointed a finger at Zell. "See, he _is_ trying to brainwash you! I was just studying, you can ask anyone who was there. Besides, today is the library girl's day off."

Zell glared at Irvine. "And how do you know that? Huh?"

Irvine's eyes shifted back and forth under the pressure. "Uh..."

"So this is how you are with all your relationships, right? You just can't take the commitment, can you?"

"That's not true!"

"Yes it is, you did the same thing to Selphie, and now you're doing it to me! I'm just glad that we haven't been a 'couple' for very long, if that's even what you'd call it," Zell spat. "I wouldn't have wanted to find out that you were a player months from now." He sighed. "I really thought you had changed, man, but you haven't. Not in the least."

Irvine stared at Zell with his mouth hanging open. What had Chayn been telling Zell? Irvine had never even looked twice at the library girl, or any one else for that matter, but Zell was so determined to find fault in him, that he didn't stand a chance of telling his side of the story. He walked past Zell to the door and left without another word.

Zell leaned on the door and put his head into his hand. 'So much for an honest friendship,' he thought.

Irvine went back to his own dorm. How could Chayn have told Zell so many lies? Now he would have to find away to prove himself to Zell, but why? He didn't need to prove anything. Perhaps Zell was just insecure with their relationship.

He decided that after Zell had had some time to settle down and come to his senses, he would try and talk to him again and explain himself. Clearly Chayn could not be trusted.

-.-.-.-.-

Somewhere down another hall, Chayn was clamly walking with a little smirk on his face.

-.-.-.-.-

End of Part XIV.


	15. Part XV

**Disclaimer:** (See Part I.)

**A/N:** Chayn is a character that I made up; I own nothing else but the plot of this story.

**To my readers/reviewers:** Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!

**To Lionfaq491: **I just thought I would repeat this part of the disclaimer because you kinda brought it up. This writing is _completely _fictitious. The characters only act how I think they _might _actand they do NOT resemble anyone, living or dead. :D Thanks for your review.

-.-.-.-.-

Zell quickly walked into class the next morning and sat down in his seat next to Irvine without saying a word.

Irvine looked at him with a questioning look, but Zell ignored him completely. "Zell, what's wrong."

Zell kept his eyes locked on the front board. The instructor stood up and cleared his throat. "Open your books and turn to page 251."

Zell found the page quickly and stared back up at the board. Chayn already had his textbook open to the page.

Irvine flipped through the book for the page while whispering to Zell. "How can you believe Chayn's lies? You don't have any proof that I was with the library girl. Isn't a friends word good enough these days?"

"Quiet please, I want to learn something today." Zell's eyes didn't flicker in the least.

Irvine bit his lip. Zell was become more and more like Chayn and he had already noticed it within the past few days. He had to do something to stop the process. He wanted the old Zell back. "But Zell-"

"Mr. Kinneas. Is there something that you would like to share with the class?" asked the instructor.

"No sir."

"Then please refrain from speaking out." The instructor continued to scrawl a lengthy note on the board.

Irvine looked back to see Zell copying the note down studiously in his notes along with Chayn right beside him. Irvine copied down a couple of lines. "Zell, this is just silly, why won't you talk to me?" he whispered without looking at Zell to make himself less conspicuous.

Zell continued to copy the note.

"Common man, I-"

"Kinneas! What _is_ the problem? Please, do share it with us."

Several students looked over at Irvine, including Chayn.

"Nothing sir, sorry."

"This is the second time that you have disrupted my class. Don't let it happen again."

Irvine nodded slightly and went back to copying the note.

-.-.-.-.-

At the end of the extremely long and uncomfortable class for Irvine, he noticed Zell leave with Chayn. He packed up his books and quickly followed them, hoping to catch a bit of what they were talking about.

"I can come over tonight again if you would like some more help with the review," offered Chayn.

"Yeah, that'd be great! Thanks a lot." Zell and Chayn parted ways in the hall toward their next classes.

Irvine was beside himself. Get together again? He had to stop them somehow... but he wasn't exactly sure how. He needed more time to think things through, but how much more time did he have?

-.-.-.-.-

A week passed and as Chayn had predicted, the instructor had given them a test. Zell thought that he did pretty well on in. He even thought that it may, in fact, turn out to be his highest mark in the class. He had been studying with Chayn approximately an hour each night for the past week, and had never felt as prepared for anything as much as he had for this test.

Irvine, on the other hand, had been fretting over the results of this test since he had taken it. His mind had been so focused on Zell lately that he had hardly spent any time studying for the test at all. Zell had seemed to breeze right trough the test, Irvine was anxious to know what his mark was as well.

Then the moment arrived; they were going to get their test results. The instructor walked around the room handing back the tests. He got to Zell. "Well done, Mr. Dincht. 83."

"Whoa, thanks!" Zell took his test in surprise.

83? Irvine wondered how Zell could have gotten such a high mark. Maybe Zell had cheated off of his test.

The instructor came around to Irvine next. "I'm very disappointed in this test, Kinneas. See me after class."

Irvine looked down at his test. 58.

-.-.-.-.-

After trying unsuccessfully to explain his poor mark to the instructor, Irvine wasn't feeling too well, so he headed toward the Infirmary before his next class, hoping that he could get out of having to go to it.

He knocked on the door before walking into Dr. Kadowaki's office.

She looked up from her desk. "Good morning Irvine," she greeted, "have a seat."

Irvine sat down.

"Now, what seems to be the problem?"

Chayn walked into the office from a room on the side and Irvine, paranoid, wondered why he wasn't in class.

"Hello Mr. Irvine. You do not mind if I sit in again do you?" Chayn took out his pen and notebook.

"Yeah, actually I do."

"Oh." Chayn, looking a little hurt, stood up and left the Infirmary. He wasn't sure why Irvine didn't like him; perhaps it was because Zell was awknowledging him and not Irvine. Or maybe Irvine... hated him.

-.-.-.-.-

Rinoa skipped happily over to Irvine when he had unfortunately met her eye from across the hallway. "Hey Irvine! How are you?"

"Tired and hungry and in a bad mood, now leave me alone," he snapped and turned away from her.

Rinoa met him on the other side. "I'm great! Thanks for asking. Where's Zell?"

"I don't know and I don't care."

A look of surprise fell across Rinoa's face. "What do you mean? Why don't you care?" She put her hands on her hips. "Are you two fighting?"

"Yes."

"Oh..." Rinoa obviously hadn't expected that answer. "How come?"

"Leave me alone."

"Fine, if that's how it's going to be, I'll just have to go talk to Zell." Rinoa stuck her nose up in the air, hoping that Irvine would give in and tell her what was wrong. She started to slowly walk away.

"Good."

Rinoa looked back and glared at Irvine before storming off.

-.-.-.-.-

"What did you get on the test?" Zell asked Chayn, wanting to know how the younger boy had done on his first test in that class.

"Perfect," Chayn replied, "how about you?"

"Eighty-three!" Zell showed him the paper to prove it.

"Well done."

"Thanks to you. I _never _could've gotten this mark if you hadn't've been helpin' me!"

Chayn blushed with embarrassment. "You are giving me too much credit."

"No, it's true!" Zell insisted. He looked back down at his test. "Ma's gonna want to hang this one on the fridge." He placed it carefully into his dresser.

Chayn bit his lip. "You know who I saw in the Infirmary today?"

"Who'd you see?" Zell asked, with a smile.

"Irvine," Chayn said softly, knowing that Zell wasn't speaking to him.

The smile disappeared from Zell's face. "So, do you know when we're going to be having another test?"

"He wanted to talk to Dr. Kadowaki," Chayn went on, knowing that Zell clearly didn't want to talk about Irvine.

Zell figured that one would want to talk to the doctor if one were to go to the Infirmary, but he didn't care why Irvine was there. Absolutely not. "Do I look fat when I do this?" Zell struck an unflattering pose that nearly made Chayn forget what he was talking about and burst out laughing, but he was determined to finish his story.

"The last time he went to the Infirmary he let me sit in, no problem, but this time he asked me to leave."

Zell looked into Chayn's eyes. The kid looked like he was gonna cry. Not being able to come up with anymore distractions on the spot, he decided to listen to what Chayn was saying to him. "So?"

"Do you think Irvine hates me?"

Zell scrunched up his face. "What? Oh! You mean because he acts all weird around you?"

Chayn nodded.

"He's just a paranoid jerk. Ignore him."

"So, he does hate me?" Chayn looked pale and his bottom lip started to quiver. "I do not think that anyone has ever.. _hated _me before."

Zell started to panic. He didn't intend to make Chayn cry. "No, he doesn't hate you! He hates me."

Chayn collected himself. "What do you mean? He was trying to talk to _you_. Isn't it the other way around?"

"It's confusing. I don't really know how to explain it." He shrugged.

"You could try," Chayn urged. "How come you are not speaking to him?"

"I don't wanna go into it." Zell panicked more. He couldn't tell Chayn that he like Irvine in more than a friendly way until he had found out that he had been played just like Selphie had been... only Selphie had kinda started that one by going out with Seifer, but it was bound to happen. It wasn't like Irvine paid her much attention. What had Zell been thinking when he agreed to go out with Irvine. Obviously he hadn't been thinking.

What was Zell doing getting so worked up over Irvine now anyway though? He had only been on one date with the guy and it was a _double_ date. Not even anything real or serious. He should just let it go now. Zell looked back to Chayn. Irvine's opinions of Chayn and his stupid dream were what had slowly been splitting them apart to begin with. If Irvine hadn't have gone and been seen with the library girl, all may have still been fine. If stupid Rinoa hadn't have gone and told Irvine that he was gay-

"Who is gay?" asked Chayn bring Zell back from his thoughts.

"Er- no one." Zell hadn't realized that he had spoken aloud. He would have to be more careful.

"What's on your mind Zell? You can tell me. I've been working with Dr. Kadowaki for a long time now and maybe I can help you and Irvine set aside your diferences."

Zell stared at Chayn.

"You can trust me," Chayn smiled in a friendly way.

Zell sighed. Maybe it would do him some good to tell Chayn what happened. "Well, Irvine was going out with this girl for a while and when they broke up..."

-.-.-.-.-

End of Part XV.


	16. Part XVI

**Disclaimer:** (See Part I.)

**A/N:** Chayn is a character that I made up, along with Buzz and Garold, and anyone else that I throw into this story that have nothing to do with FF8 whatsoever; I own nothing else but the plot of this story.

**To QueenAdreena:** Sorry about the lack of cuteness; I don't know if it'll be back anytime soon.

**To Lady Pyrefly: **Sorry that the last chappy didn't live up to your expectations. I hope I've done better on this one. Chayn's motives will be revealed very soon; don't worry.

-.-.-.-.-

Zell told Chayn everything that had happened between him and Irvine, he even told him about the stupid dream that Irvine had had about Chayn, which made the younger boy laugh. As Zell concluded his story with the fact that Irvine couldn't stay with any one person for very long he noticed that Chayn was looking at him with surprise. "What's the matter?" he asked.

Chayn blinked. "Nothing. It's just that, I would have never thought that you were gay."

Zell made a face. "And? Do you have a problem with it?"

"No, of course not." Chayn waved a hand in a gesture of disregard.

Zell gave a sigh of relief. He didn't want to lose another friend. "So, what's your advice Doc?"

"I agree with you. If Irvine liked to look at other women while he was with Selphie, then I do not think that he would change just because he was with you. You are probably better off without him."

"I know," Zell said disappointedly. "It's just that... I've never met anyone else who was interested in me like Irvine is, well, _was_."

"You should not worry about that. Someday, someone will come along who is just right for you," Chayn tried to comfort.

"That's what they all say."

"If that is what they all say then it must be true."

This made Zell smile a little.

"What time is it?" asked Chayn, out of the blue.

Zell looked to the clock on the wall. "6:50PM."

"Would you like to come and have dinner with me?"

"Yeah!" Zell exclaimed, but then a sad look befell his face. "Oh wait. I'm outta cash. I used the rest of my money on my lunch, but it was worth it for that wonderful, wonderful taste of a hotdog." Zell smiled serenely at the rememberance of lunch.

"That's all right. I'll pay for you; my treat," offered Chayn.

Zell's eyes lit up. "Really? You serious?"

Chayn nodded. "I've got plenty extra gil from helping out at the Balamb shop." He moved to the door and waited for Zell to follow.

"I didn't know you worked at the Balamb shop."

"Well, there are a lot of things that you don't know about me." Chayn closed the door behind them.

-.-.-.-.-

After buying their dinners, Chayn and Zell sat down at a free table in the centre of the cafeteria. Chayn was going on about how he had been talking to the Headmaster earlier about the cafeteria hot dogs and food selection, and about getting a more healthy menu for the students to choose from.

Normally, Zell would have objected to this and started a whole debate about how hotdogs were the best food in the world, but he was more focused on Selphie and Seifer at sitting side-by-side at a table nearby, feeding each other their dinners.

Selphie offered her boyfriend a spoon-full of what looked like chocolate pudding. Seifer tried to eat it off the spoon, but missed and it went all over his nose, and due to Selphie's giggling, his second attempt gave him another spot of brown on his chin. Selphie wiped it away with a napkin and he gave her a kiss.

Zell quickly brought his attention back to Chayn.

"Don't you agree that hotdogs are the least healthy thing for you?" asked Chayn.

Zell took another bite of his dinner. "Uh huh," he spoke through a mouthful.

"I know!" Chayn went on. "That is what I said to the Headmaster..."

Zell's eyes moved from Chayn to just over his shoulder where he could see Rinoa and Squall sharing a milkshake together. Why did everyone have someone special in their lives but him? He looked back to Chayn and tried to ignore the couple behind him laughing about some inside joke that they had shared.

-.-.-.-.-

After dinner, Zell thanked Chayn and prepared to turn in for the night. Besides, he still had some homework that he needed to finish. Hopefully that would help him get his mind off of his problems.

"Hey Zell," Chayn stopped Zell before he could fully open his dorm door. "Cheer up. Things are not as bad as they may seem. Seeing you unhappy is making me unhappy. You and Irvine can still be friends, it is not the end of the world."

Zell nodded, thanked Chayn again, and entered his dorm.

Chayn returned to his own dorm and was thankful that his roommate wasn't anywhere to be seen. He and his roommate, Buzz, had absolutely _nothing _in common with each other. Chayn was currently working on switching rooms with another student, but Headmaster Cid was having trouble finding another student who would agree to be Buzz's roommate. Chayn was only stuck with him because he had came to the Garden after the start of classes, and Buzz was the only SeeD-in-Training that didn't already have a roommate.

Chayn moved across the incredibly mess floor, nearly stepping on a plate of pizza that had been left to rot, and went into his side of the dorm. The room was clean and spotless, but it didn't always look that way. There were nights when Chayn would come back to the room to find all of his belongings dishevelled and strewn about after some party that Buzz had managed to have in the small space.

It wasn't that Chayn just didn't care about the state of the room, he did. It was just that everytime he got it all straightened out, Buzz would throw another party because the place looked nice and there was room for more people. Chayn had eventually just given up. It was amazing that Buzz was still allowed to be in the Garden, but the Headmaster had told Chayn that he had seen potential in the troublesome boy.

Chayn sat down on his bed and pulled out a box from underneath it that, thankfully, Buzz and his rowdy friends had never found, or else they would surely try to smash it open. He took the key to the box out from under a loose floor board and placed the key carefully into the lock, turning it slowly.

It clicked open and he opened up the box to view what anyone would call an absolute obsession.

Inside the box were bits and pieces of everything Zell. Pictures or Zell at all different angles, a clipping of hair that he had managed to get when he had fallen asleep during on of their study sessions, there was even a piece of a stale hotdog bun that Zell just couldn't force down one day.

Chayn took out a picture of Zell, his favourite one. He had taken it one day when Zell and another student had been laughing about something. In it, Zell was brushing his hair back with one hand and he had a huge smile on his face. The sunlight was hitting him so that it appeared that he had a halo. Chayn smiled at the picture and ran his index finger down the side of Zell's tattooed face.

The dorm door clicked opened.

Chayn jumped out of his thoughts and slammed the box closed. Quickly locking it he threw it back under the bed and the key back under the floor board. Then he pulled a large book off of his night table and pretended to read it before Buzz could ask what he had been doing.

-.-.-.-.-

"ZELL!" Irvine sat straight up in the dark room. He blinked a few times. Where was he? He relaxed a little, realizing that he was still in his dorm and _not_ falling off a cliff after a failed attempt to save Zell. It was the dream again, only this time it seemed even more real than it had been before. There was something strange going on and Irvine didn't know what to make of it.

He had to warn Zell again. There was something that he just didn't like about Chayn, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He knew that Zell wouldn't listen to him, but he had to give it another try. He couldn't just stand by when he knew perfectly well that something was going on.

Maybe he could sneak a monitor into Zell's dorm that would let him listen in on Zell's conversations with Chayn. Then he was sure that he would be able to find out something more, and he knew just the person to go to to get a monitor...

-.-.-.-.-

Zell sat alone in the cafeteria chowing down on a hotdog that he was lucky enough to have paid for him by the student in line behind him, whom had felt sorry for him when the cafeteria lady wouldn't let him have his hotdog without any money.

Rinoa walked with determination to where Zell sat and sat down across from him.

Zell smiled at her and continued to eat his hotdog without a word.

"Hey Zell, who was that cute boy that you were eating dinner with yesterday?"

"Who, Chayn? He's just a kid in my class."

"At that age? He looked like he should still be in training."

"He is," Zell confirmed. "He's just really smart and got put into my review class."

"Oh..." said Rinoa, "and why aren't you talking to Irvine?"

Zell was silent for a moment. "I don't wanna talk about that right now; maybe some other time."

Rinoa stood up. "All right, I'm gonna hold you to it." She walked away.

-.-.-.-.-

Irvine wandered through the Quad with his eyes locked on the ground. He was on his way to meet with Garold, a SeeD with incredibly extensive knowledge of all things involving technology. It was a rumor around the Garden that Garold was the reason that Balamb Garden was still running and had survived so many attacks. Also, to the ignorance of the Garden Facutly, it was also a rumor that Garold had sold many illegal items around the Garden to students who dare approach him. This rumor was true, however, many students were too intimidated by his intelligence to tell the Faculty on him. With his connections, Garold could probably have any student who was going to rat on him assassinated before they could even make it to the Faculty.

Irvine wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing, but he had to do _something_ and this was all he could come up with at the moment.

He hoped that Zell would forgive him for invading his privacy, but once Chayn was found guilty of brainwashing Zell, he would surely understand why Irvine had done this and forgive him.

Irvine looked up as he passed a group of SeeD's working on something in a group. Just behind them he noticed Seifer and Fujin, and before he could look away Seifer had caught his eye and waved friendly-like to him.

Irvine snarled and thought, 'Stealing, no good, backstabbing- Uh-oh, better wave.' He waved back less enthusiastically, though it was more of a 'yeah, whatever, leave me alone' kind of wave, and continued on his way.

At the very end of the Quad Garold was standing in a shady corner waiting. Irvine approached him cautiously. This was the first time that he had ever done business with the dark haired boy, and what he knew about him was only based on what he had heard from others, and that wasn't very good.

"Did you bring the cash?" Garold asked, not wasting any time.

"Yeah." Irvine flashed him the bag of a whopping 2500 gil.

"Excellent." The dark haired boy took a small device out of his jacket. "Here is your monitor. Just press this button and stick it onto something - the underneath of furniture is usually a preferable place - and you're all set. You can listen in with this little speaker that fits into your ear."

Irvine nodded, handing over the money bag in exchange for the monitor. "Thanks."

"Oh, and one more thing," Garold continued. "I don't do refunds." He tucked the money into his jacket and slipped out of the Quad.

Irvine looked down at the monitor in his hand. Now he just needed a way to get it into Zell's room with out him knowing.

-.-.-.-.-

As evening approached, Zell made his way toward Chayn's dorm room. He had never been there, but Chayn had told him where it was and pleaded that he only to go there if he absolutely needed to because he was so ashamed of it. Zell didn't know what the boy was so worried about though, he had seen Zell's messy dorm and Zell didn't care.

He knocked on Chayn's dorm room door.

Buzz opened the door to let the blasting heavy metal music out into the corridor. Zell was a little impressed that he hadn't heard the music as he was approaching; Buzz must have sound-proofed the room. Shouts and laughter came from behind Buzz and a huge puff of purple smoke enveloped Zell.

"Whadaya wan?"

Zell's eyes started to water as he suppressed a cough and stared up at the huge kid. He was taller than Irvine, as wide as a boulder, and if he hadn't have been so scary, it would have taken Zell a lot of self-control to stop himself from asking Buzz if he was high.

"Is Chayn in there somewhere?" asked Zell, refering to the heaps of clothes, grabage, and who know what else on the floor.

"Naw, I think he's studyin' in that library thing, but I don know why. Studyin's fer losers."

Zell slowly nodded his head. "Okay, thanks."

"Whatever." Buzz closed the door.

-.-.-.-.-

"Whatcha studying?" Zell asked coming up behind Chayn.

"This mathematical equation. I have to give proof that F'(x) equals lim as h approaches 0 (f(x+h)-f(x)) divided by h equals v(x)u'(x)+u(x)v'(x) when f'(x) equals u(x)v(x).

Zell blinked stupidly. "...What!"

"It's the Product Rule," Chayn explained. "Did you ever have to learn this?"

"Thankfully not. They must have added that in after I became a SeeD," Zell replied with relief.

"Hey you two, could you be a little quieter please?" asked a girl at a nearby table trying to read.

"Sorry," Zell whispered. He turned back to Chayn. "Anyway, I came here to say that you were right about what you said the other day about Irvine. I think I'm over him, I mean, there wasn't much to get over, right? Besides, it would have never worked out between us."

Chayn nodded in agreement.

"So, thanks for helping me figure things out."

"Oh no, you don't have to thank me. It was _you_ who figured things out for yourself. You just needed to talk to someone about it."

"Whatever." Zell shrugged. "Oh, guess what. I met your roommate."

A fearful look crossed Chayn's face. "Y- y-ou did?"

"Yeah," said Zell, remembering the experience. "He's quite... interesting."

"He wasn't having a party was he?" Chayn held his breath and closed his eyes waiting for Zell's answer. He could only imagine the damage that was being caused in the room.

"Sorry," said Zell. "I've gotta go find Irvine now and tell him how I feel."

Chayn nodded. "I have faith in you."

-.-.-.-.-

Irvine walked down the hall on the way to his dorm, noticing Zell at his own dorm unlocking the door.

"Hey Zell," he greated, hoping that he might start talking to him again.

"Irvine!" Zell exclaimed. "I was just about to go and find you. I wanted to talk to you about something. Would you mind coming in?"

Irvine couldn't believe his luck. He had been trying to find a way to get into Zell's room and set up the monitor, and now, here he was, being invited in. "Sure."

"Have a seat," Zell offered, moving some clothes aside.

Irvine sat down on the squeaky couch.

Zell sat next to him. "I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry that I haven't been talking to you these days, but things just aren't working out between us," he said.

Irvine nodded. "I understand, but now you have to understand that I'm not going out with the library girl."

"It doesn't matter if you are or not, you can do what you want, and be with who you want to be with," Zell said understandingly. He stood up and placed a pile of clothes on his table.

Quickly, while Zell's back was turned, Irvine leaned down to 'straighten his pants' and slipped the monitor under the couch. He sat up again just as Zell turned back around.

"We can still be friends though, can't we?" asked Zell.

Irvine nodded again. "I had that strange dream again last night, only it felt more real this time."

"That's because you don't stop thinking about it," Zell reasoned.

"No, it's a sign!" Irvine insisted. "You should stop hanging out with Chayn right away!"

"Irvine, you're being ridiculous and juvenile. Talk to me again when you are finished believing that Chayn is up to no good."

Irvine left the dorm without saying a word. He still wasn't sure if he should be spying on Zell, but he convinced himself that it was for his own safety.

-.-.-.-.-

End of Part XVI.


	17. Part XVII

**Disclaimer:** (See Part I.)

**A/N:** Chayn is a character that I made up, along with Buzz and Garold, and anyone else that I throw into this story that have nothing to do with FF8 whatsoever; I own nothing else but the plot of this story.

**To my readers/reviewers:** Getting close to the end now. I'm really excited. This will be my first ever completed FF8 fic! Yay! Thanks for all your comments and contributions! And people, I know more of you are reading this than are reviewing. Please let me know how I'm doing!

-.-.-.-.-

Irvine returned to his dorm room and immediately hooked up the ear piece for the monitor to a tape recorder so that he would have proof to show Zell, and ultimately, the Headmaster and have Chayn kicked out of the Garden, never to become a SeeD. Irvine chuckled to himself as he plugged the tape recorder into the wall socket.

"... Needed to speak with you, do you have a minute," a voice came through the recorder the second that it had been plugged in.

Irvine panicked. Chayn was already in the room not more than five minutes since he had been there. He ran to a stack of books and papers on his desk and threw them aside to find a blank tape to record on. He grabbed the tape, forced it into the recorder, and hit record.

"Sure, 'sup?" asked the familiar voice of Zell.

"Well, I was thinking, about what you had told me the other day about you and Irvine, and I thought that you would be the best person to talk to about this..."

Irvine furrowed his brows. Zell had told Chayn about their relationship? He sat down and waited intently to see where the conversation would go next.

Zell looked at Chayn with a confused expression. "What are ya talkin' 'bout?"

'May as well just come out and say it,' Chayn thought to himself. "Well, you have given me the courage, by telling me about your relationship, to finally be able to say this to you."

Zell and Irvine both waited for Chayn to tell them what he was talking about.

"And... what's that?" asked Zell.

"Zell, I... I- I LOVE YOU!" Chayn finally got his words out. He stared deeply into Zell's eyes.

"What!" Irvine asked aloud in his dorm.

Zell didn't say anything, causing Chayn to look away and blush with embarrassment.

Irvine jumped up and paced back and forth. He took off his hat and ran a hand over his head to smooth out his hair before putting the hat back on. The brat didn't know what he was talking about. How could he possibly know if he truly loved someone at his age?

"How long have you felt this way, Chayn?" asked Zell in a softer voice.

Irvine sat back down and waited anxiously for the little punks reply.

Chayn looked back at Zell. "Since that day when I helped Dr. Kadowaki dress your wounds and nurse you back to health when you were attacked in the Training Center." He paused and waited for Zell to say something, but he didn't, making Chayn feel very nervous.

Irvine listened and waited also. If someone didn't say something soon, he was going to get up and go to Zell's room to settle things between the two.

"I... don't know what to say," Zell began.

"Then do not say anything." Chayn reached over with his hand and rubbed the side of Zell's cheek as he had done many times over to the picture in his box.

Zell didn't resist the younger boy's touch. "But Irvine-"

"There is no Irvine," Chayn cooed. "You are over Irvine."

"Yeah, but-"

"But nothing." Chayn interrupted Zell with a lip locking kiss.

Zell was a little caught off guard, but he gave into the kiss. After all, it couldn't hurt to indulge the boy for the moment.

Irvine listened intently for more conversation. He didn't want to think about what was doing on in the other dorm. What if Chayn was trying to stab Zell at that very moment? He tried to calm himself. No, he would have heard a struggle, but what if there hadn't been a struggle? Irvine panicked more and prepared to rush out the door any second.

Even though Zell had called things off with Irvine, he felt a little devilish.

Chayn pulled back from Zell, and Zell assumed that the younger boy's business was done until Chayn began to tug at Zell's jacket in an attempt to take it off.

"Whoa," Zell pushed him back. "What are you doin'?"

Chayn was a little hurt by the question. "Isn't this what you want?" he breathed. "Don't you love me too?"

Zell didn't know how to answer the question. "Uh- I _like _you, but this isn't what I want."

"Then what _do_ you want?" Chayn asked impatiently, moving behind Zell.

"To take things slooow." Zell recomposed his slightly disheveled appearance.

"Are you sure that's what you really want?" Chayn asked, playfully nipping at Zell's ear.

"Ack!" Zell jumped up. "Yes I'm sure!"

Chayn crawled his way to Zell. "If you really wanted to though-" Chayn began to undo Zell's belt.

Zell pushed his hands away. "No," he stated firmly, causing Chayn to pout. "I think you should leave now." He moved to the door and opened it.

Chayn stood up and straightened his navy blue uniform. "I will be back again," he promised before leaving.

Zell closed the door behind the younger boy and leaned up against the door, slowly sinking down to a seated position on the floor. He put his head into his hands and sighed. He didn't know what he wanted anymore.

-.-.-.-.-

Friday's class had nearly finished and Zell hadn't shown up. Irvine nervously tapped his pen against the desk, and wondered if Chayn had anything to do with the disappearance of his friend.

Irvine left the room quickly at the end of class and waited for Chayn.

As the younger boy came out of the classroom Irvine took him by his shirt and pinned him against the wall.

Chayn stared up at the taller student with innocent eyes. "Is something the matter, Mr. Irvine?"

"Is something the matter?" Irvine repeated. "Yes, something is the matter! Zell wasn't in class today and I know that you know why and where he is."

Chayn shook his head. "I assure you that I do not know where he is. Now will you please let me go, or will I have to call the instructor?"

Irvine snarled at Chayn. He was convinced that the rotten kid knew where Zell was, but there was nothing that he could do to force his knowledge about Zell's whereabouts out of him. At least not there in the hallway with everyone watching.

-.-.-.-.-

"Zell, is that you? What are you doing here? Isn't this area off limits when the Garden is in motion?" asked a familiar voice.

Zell looked over his shoulder to see Rinoa. "I could ask you the same thing."

Rinoa sat down beside Zell at the edge of the Garden entrance and dangled her feet over the edge.

Zell resumed his gaze down at the ground as it quickly flew by.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Life."

Rinoa looked interested. "Are you thinking of jumping off?"

"No."

Rinoa looked down at the ground too. "Whew! That's making me a little nauseous."

Zell smirked.

"Hey, are you ready to tell me why you and Irvine aren't talking yet?"

His smirk disappeared. "It's because he's going out with the library girl."

"No he's not," Rinoa said as if it were the most illogical thing she had ever heard.

"How do you know?"

"Because I know everything," Rinoa beamed.

Zell glared at her.

"What? You know it's true!"

The scary thing is, he did know it was true. "All right then, if Irvine's not going out with the library girl, then prove it."

"I don't need to. If you stayed on top of the gossip like me, you would know that Nida is going out with the library girl, not Irvine."

"But that can't be true, Chayn say that he saw Irvine flirting with the library girl."

"Who's Chayn? Oh, that boy in your class. He's probably just jealous that you're with Irvine and not him," Rinoa stated simply. "He's gay too, you know?"

It took a moment for Rinoa's words to sink in. "You think... he lied to me?"

Rinoa shrugged her shoulders. "I wouldn't put it past him." She stood up carefully on the edge and turned to leave. "Oh, I almost forgot! Irvine's been looking for you all morning. Well, see ya!" She waved.

Zell pulled his knees up to his chest. Why would Chayn lie to him to break him and Irvine apart? He thought that it seemed very uncharacteristic of the younger boy. He was a little disappointed in him.

He stood up and walked with determination toward the entrance of the Garden. He had to find Irvine and apologize for not believing him and being so stubborn.

Zell went to Irvine's dorm, but he wasn't there. He tried the cafeteria and the library too, but he wasn't in either of those places. Zell returned to his dorm room. He would have to wait until later to tell him that he believed him now.

As Zell walked into his dorm, he didn't notice the younger boy sitting on his couch waiting for him.

-.-.-.-.-

Irvine turned the door to Chayn's dorm room; it opened. He had seen the boy leave earlier, so he knew it would be safe to enter as long as Chayn didn't come back anytime soon.

Buzz had passed out on top of a large junk pile, and had probably been there since his last party.

Irvine moved carefully around him to Chayn's side of the dorm, which he assumed was the slightly less cluttered side. He was determined to find something that would prove that Chayn was up to no good, and hopefully, something that would get him expelled from the Garden for good.

Irvine moved around some papers and books, all of which related to Chayn's classes and not black magic as Irvine had suspected.

He opened Chayn's dresser and desk drawers, but all he found there were neatly folded clothes and stacks of paper. He moved to the bed and looked under the covers and the mattress. Nothing. He looked under the bed. 'What's this?' he thought, pulling out Chayn's secret box. He tried to force it open. 'A key...' Irvine looked all around him, through the dresser and desk again - _everywhere_ - but he couldn't find a key.

He tucked the box under him arm, assuming that he could pick the lock when he wasn't facing the threat of being caught red-handed, and left the dorm.

When Irvine got back into his room, he tossed his jacket over a chair and turned up the volume on his tape recorder, which was recording constantly. He had already gone through a pile of tapes, all of which were mostly blank.

"That doesn't answer my question," Irvine heard Zell say through the monitor.

"What question," Irvine asked the tape recorder as if expecting it to answer him.

"I do not know what more you want from me," said Chayn.

"I just want to be left alone right now," said Zell.

"Why weren't you in class today?" Chayn ignored Zell's hinting that he should leave.

"I needed time to think about things."

"About... us?" Chayn moved closer to Zell.

"There is no '_us_'," Zell confirmed. "You lied to me."

Chayn made a face. "What are you talking about?"

"Irvine was never with the library girl, Nida is going out with the library girl. You just wanted me and Irvine to break up so that I would be available again."

Chayn smiled. "And? Now you are available. It was the perfect plan." Chayn stood up from the couch.

Irvine heard the springs through the monitor.

"No it wasn't. I found out didn't I?" asked Zell.

Chayn shrugged. "That does not matter." He took Zell by the shoulders, and with hardly a struggle, he managed to push Zell backward onto the couch. He was by no means stronger than Zell, but they were approximately the same height and Zell hadn't see it coming.

The younger boy pinned Zell's arms down with his body weight and kissed him fiercely. "Irvine does not love you like I do; why can't you see that? What do I have to do to get it through your mind?"

"Get off of me!" Zell kicked wildly with his feet.

"Why won't you return my love?"

That was it. Irvine had heard enough. He grabbed his jacket from the chair and jogged down the hall to Zell's dorm. "Zell, open up!"

Zell and Chayn both looked over at the door.

"Tell him to leave," Chayn whispered into Zell's ear.

Zell struggled to get the boy off of him again, but Chayn didn't move. He couldn't just send Irvine away. Who knows what Chayn would do to him if Irvine left. Then he remembered; he hadn't locked the door. He smirked up at Chayn. "It's open!"

Chayn's eyes widened. He jumped off of Zell and raced to the door, but Irvine was already standing in the room.

"Zell, are you okay?" asked Irvine, glancing over Chayn's shoulder.

Zell stood up. "Yeah, Chayn was just leaving. Right?"

Chayn turned to face Zell. "That is correct, my Honey Lips." He glared at Irvine. "But first, let us examine the reason why Mr. Kinneas arrived at this exact moment. Chayn paced back and forth, occasionally glancing up at Irvine, not intimidated by his height. "Is it because he had an intuitive instinct to visit Zell as he was passing by? No," he answered for them before they had a chance to respond.

Zell stared at Irvine with a confused expression, which Irvine didn't notice because he was to busy snarling at Chayn.

"Or could it be that he was going to drop by to give Zell the work that he missed in class? Wrong again." Chayn moved past Zell to the couch. "I think the answer to this seemingly unsolvable mystery is that Irvine is in here at this exact moment because he has been listening in on Zell's private life through a monitor which he placed underneath Zell's couch." Chayn bent down, pulled out the monitor that Irvine had so skillfully hid, and placed it into Zell's hand.

"Irvine," Zell's eyes were filled with disappointment, "is that true?"

Irvine suddenly felt the need to defend himself. "Listen, it was only for your own good. I told you something was up." He narrowed his eyes at Chayn.

"Man... don't you think I can take care of myself?"

"Of course I do, I just wanted to make sure that nothing happened to you. It was all in your best interest." Irvine scrambled to get his view across. "In fact, don't you owe _me_ an apology?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry that I didn't believe you about the library girl, but maybe I would have been better off believing it." Zell shook his head sadly. "I want you to leave now, both of you."

"But Zell-" Chayn protested.

"Leave! Go on, get out!" Zell's voice escalated. He pushed Chayn and Irvine toward the door, closing it coldly in their faces. He turned back to face his room, and overcome with emotions of fear, confusion, and betrayal, Zell buried his face in his hands wept.

-.-.-.-.-

Irvine stared at Chayn with suspicion. "How did you know that the monitor was under the couch?"

"I could hear the high pitched ringing that it made," Chayn looked up at Irvine with a 'know-it-all' expression, "and Zell can take care of himself, you know?"

If a member of the Garden Faculty hadn't been walking by, Irvine would have thumped the kid a good one, but he restrained himself.

Chayn turned on his heel and strode arrogantly back to his room.

Irvine stood there in the hall with one hand on his hip wondering what he should do next. Then he remembered the box. He needed to get it open and find out what was inside, preferably before Chayn found out that it was missing, but how would he do that without the key?

'I wonder if Squall has his Gunblade on him?' Irvine thought to himself, and decided to take a walk and find out.

-.-.-.-.-

End of Part XVII.


	18. Part XVIII

**Disclaimer:** (See Part I.)

**A/N:** Chayn is a character that I made up, along with Buzz and Garold, and anyone else that I throw into this story that have nothing to do with FF8 whatsoever; I own nothing else but the plot of this story.

**To QueenAdreena:** Sorry again about the cuteness. Glad you like the plot though. Thanks for your review.

**To Lady Pyrefly:** Thanks for your review. I find your confusion about Chayn very amusing. All you questions will be answered very soon.

**To Lionfaq:** Thanks for your review. I'm glad you like the story. I actually never thought about a sequel, but since you've mentioned it I've been having... ideas, (that's a very bad thing).

**To Fuuraiken:** Thanks for the review! Glad you like the pairing.

Enjoy!

-.-.-.-.-

"You want me to do _what _again?" asked Squall. He had agreed to help Irvine open the box, but the taller boy had failed to mention how, exactly, they were going to do it.

"Open this box," Irvine held it up to show Squall.

"No problem." Squall lined his Gunblade up with the top of the box. "One good swing should crack 'er open." He drew back his weapon and brought it crashing down on the box.

Irvine leaned in and inspected the object. Squall's Gunblade hadn't even left a dent.

"Did it work?" asked Squall.

"No."

Squall took the box from Irvine. "That's weird... Have you tried picking the lock?"

"Not yet."

Squall rolled his eyes. "Gimme something," he snapped his fingers a couple times, "like a wire, or a bobby pin."

"A bobby pin?" repeated Irvine.

"Yeah, Rinoa would have one."

"Sure, but Rinoa's a girl."

Squall shrugged. "Well, you never know. I don't know what you like to do in your spare time... Your hair _is_ long."

"Hey man, I don't have no bobby pin."

"Okay, what about a paper clip?"

A light went off in Irvine's head. "Yeah, I think I have one of those." He sifted through a pile of his school papers and found what he was looking for. "Here ya go." He handed the clip to Squall, who opened the paper clip and poked it around in the lock until he heard a click.

"Got it."

Irvine quickly took the box from Squall's hand. "Thanks." He put the box on his desk.

"Aren't you going to open it?" asked Squall.

Irvine looked from Squall to the box and back to Squall again. He shook his head. "No."

Squall scrunched up his face. "Okay... Well, I guess my work here is done then."

Irvine thanked Squall again and sent him on his way out the door, and as soon as it closed Irvine went back to his desk, knelt down, and took the box into his lap. 'I've got you now,' he thought. He carefully opened the lid of the box that would confirm all of his suspicion.

-.-.-.-.-

Chayn walked into his dorm, arriving just in time for room check. He went to his side of the room, thankful that he had something to come home to after a long day. He reached under his bed for the box, but it wasn't there.

'Okay Chayn,' he told himself mentally, 'there has to be a logical explanation for this. You probably just misplaced it.' He looked around the room and noticed for the first time that it was slightly disheveled.

He looked back into the main room to see Buzz still sleeping where he had been when he had left the room. It wasn't possible that his roommate could have had another party since he had last been in the room.

Chayn rushed over to his roommate and shook him awake. "Buzz. Buzz!" He dodged the massive hand that swung at his head.

"Whadaya wan?"

"Did you take my box?"

"What box?"

"The one under my bed!" Chayn said with urgency.

"There was a box there?"

"Yes! Did you take it?"

"Why would I wan yer stupid ol' box?"

Chayn raced back into his room and removed the floor board, slightly relieved that the key was still there, but still, someone was out there with his secret box. Who could it-

"Irvine!" Chayn exclaimed aloud.

"What the hell's an Irvine?" asked Buzz from the junk pile in the other room.

Chayn ignored him. It made perfect sense. Irvine hated him. Chayn's mind raced. 'What if he gets my box open?' He had to get it back.

He bounded over heaps of junk and out the dorm door hearing Buzz holler behind him, "Ow! That was my foot, you ass!" Buzz got up and ran after his roommate to teach him a lesson.

Irvine stepped out of his dorm, box in hand, as Chayn was racing down the hall toward him.

"That's my box!" he shouted. "Give it back to me."

"Get back here, I'm gonna pound your face in!" Buzz shouted behind him.

Irvine looked over at the pushy brat and his scary roommate. He wasn't about to hand over one of the only pieces of evidence he had against the kid. He bolted down the hallway in the direction of the elevator with Chayn right on his tail.

They raced past a member of the Garden Faculty who was ensuring that the library was closed and locked up for the night. "No running in the halls!" he called after them and joined the chase.

As Irvine reached the steps that lead up the elevator he took a glance behind him. Chayn was pretty fast for having such short legs, but then again, Irvine with the box in his hands gave the kid a lot of motivation to keep up.

At the top stair Irvine leapt for the button to go up in the elevator, pressing it desperately.

"Stop!" ordered the faculty member.

The elevator opened. Irvine slipped in and pushed the close button on the inside only moments before Chayn arrived.

Chayn pressed the button to go up on the outside of the elevator, but it was too late. He put his hands on his hips and his chest heaved up and down. Then a hand on his shoulder whipped him around.

"Oh boy are you gonna regret stepping in _my_ foot." Buzz puled back his arm and made a fist.

Chayn shielded his face with his hands, but the blow never came. He lowered his guard and saw that the Garden Faculty had saved him from the threat of the bigger boy. "Thank you."

The faculty member shook furiously. "What are you three doing out of your dorms at this time of night!"

Chayn opened his mouth about to explain himself, but the Garden Faculty stopped him before he could start.

"This kind of behavior is inexcusable. You will both report to the Headmaster immediately!"

-.-.-.-.-

Irvine arrived at the top of the elevator and walked into the Headmaster's office, thankful that he didn't retire for the night until everything was locked up and all the students were in their dorms.

Cid looked up from his desk. "Irvine, shouldn't you be packing it in for the night?"

Irvine strode up to the Headmaster with determination and put the box down firmly on the desk in front of him.

"What's this?"

"Open it."

Cid opened the box and observed the objects within. "I don't understand."

"That box belongs to Chayn," Irvine explained. "He's obsessed with Zell and I'm worried about Zell's safety."

"Irvine, do you know how ridiculous that sounds?"

Irvine took a tape out of his jacket and put it down on the desk beside the box. "Listen to that if you don't believe me."

As the Headmaster stared at Irvine at a loss of words the elevator dinged the arrival of the Garden Faculty with Chayn and Buzz.

Both Irvine and Headmaster Cid looked to the door as the three walked into the room, all with similar looking expressions of outrage.

"What's going on here?" asked the Headmaster with disbelief. He couldn't believe all the excitement that night.

"Headmaster, these two hooligans were stampeding down the hall after that one," he pointed at Irvine, "while I was locking up."

Cid folded his hands calmly and placed them on his desk. "I see, thank you. I can take care of things from here," he dismissed the faculty member.

All was silent as the three students stood before the Headmaster awaiting his reprimand.

Cid's eyes moved from boy to boy and finally stopped on Buzz. "Buzz, I want you to go back to your room. I'll speak with you tomorrow."

Buzz rolled his eyes, gestured carelessly with his hand, and left the office.

Cid looked back at the two boys before him with disappointment. "Chayn... this is a first."

Chayn looked nervously at his open box on the desk.

"Which one of you would like to explain to me why you were 'stampeding' down the hallway?" Cid looked at Chayn expectantly.

"Irvine went into my dorm and took something that belonged to me so I went to get it back from him, but when he saw me approaching he started running from me with my box."

"Yeah, 'cause you were running straight for me. If I didn't start running, you probably would've tackled me to the ground!" Irvine tried to defend himself.

Chayn crossed his arms in front of him, rolled his eyes, and looked away from the tall boy.

"So this box does belong to you?"

"Yes sir, may I please have it back now?"

"No, I'd like to hold onto it for the time being if you don't mind."

Chayn did mind, but he didn't say so.

Headmaster Cid sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I'm sorry that Irvine took your box, I'll have a talk with him, so for now, why don't you just go back to your dorm and get some sleep."

Irvine's chin dropped. How could he let the kid off so easily? "But sir-"

Headmaster Cid held up a hand to stop him from speaking.

"Sir, please do not make me spend the night in the same room as Buzz. He will pound me the moment I step through the door."

Cid nodded his head with understanding. He opened a large book on his desk and ran his finger down the list of student's names, and stopped on one. "I'll arrange for you to stay with Nida tonight. Room G11."

"Thank you, sir." Chayn left the office, leaving the Headmaster alone with the confused Irvine.

"Uh, sir, you just let him back into the Garden unsupervised."

"Irvine, how did you get this box?"

"Uh..." Irvine knew that it was against the Garden rules to break into another student's dorm, let alone take something that belonged to that student without permission, but what could he say? "I took it from his dorm, but only after I knew that he was up to something. Just listen to the tape."

"That won't be necessary."

"What do you mean?"

"You know Irvine, sometimes people are so determined to find fault in someone that they start to imagine things."

"It's not like that!" Irvine protested.

"What do you think is in this box?"

"Pictures and hair or Zell's, and a crusty, old hotdog bun."

The Headmaster motioned Irvine to come around to the side of his desk. He showed Irvine the inside of the box.

Irvine pulled out a chain necklace, and a pendant with a large, clear crystal in the center of it, and an antique looking bangle with a triangle design running around it. "Where did it all go?"

"I'm afraid it was never here."

"But it was; I saw it!"

"Calm down Irvine. There is nothing here that you mentioned. If it will make you feel any better, I can arrange for you and Chayn to meet with Dr. Kadowaki and she can help the two of you settle your your differences." The Headmaster smiled up at Irvine encouragingly.

Irvine didn't know what to say. He didn't want to discuss his feelings with Chayn, or anyone for that matter. He knew he was behaving very Squall-ish, but it was the truth. Besides, why should he talk about what his instinct was telling him if no one was going to believe him anyway?

Zell! That was his ticket to sanity. Zell believed him; he would tell the Headmaster that he was telling the truth. He needed more time. Time to talk to Zell and explain the situation to him.

"Irvine, are you listening to me?" asked the Headmaster.

Irvine hadn't even realized that the Headmaster had been talking to him. "Sorry, what was that?"

"This is a very serious matter. If you do not agree to speak with Dr. Kadowaki I will be forced to remove you from the Garden permanently."

Irvine nodded his head. "Fine, I'll talk to her."

Cid nodded his approval. "I'll arrange a meeting for the two of you first thing in the morning."

-.-.-.-.-

End of Part XVIII.


	19. Part XIX

**Disclaimer:** (See Part I.)

**A/N:** Chayn is a character that I made up, along with Buzz and Garold, and anyone else that I throw into this story who have nothing to do with FF8 whatsoever; I own nothing else but the plot of this story.

**To my readers:** I am terribly, awefully, horribly sorry for not having updated this thing sooner! Where did last summer go? I was gonna finish this thing; I don't know what happened. So here it is people. I give you (after an eternity) the second last chappy!

.-.-.-.-.-

Chayn knocked on Nida's G11 room and explained to the brown-haired student why he was standing outside of his room. Chayn couldn't believe his luck having been sent to Nida's room, or perhaps it was fate.

Nida allowed Chayn into his room and provided him with a blanked and pillow, and let him take a place on the couch. Nida sat down in his chair and finished reading the chapter of the book that he had nearly finished. Little was said until Nida decided it was time to turn in for the night.

"Night," he said to Chayn turning out the light.

"Goodnight," Chayn responded. He heard the squeak of the bedsprings as Nida climb into bed in the other room. There was silence for a few moments, but then Chayn asked the question that he had been dying to ask.

"Nida?"

"Yes?"

"You know how to fly the Garden, right?"

"Yes."

"Would you mind if I watched you fly it sometime?"

Nida paused for a moment. "Why would you want to watch that? It's not as exciting as it sounds."

"Well, I have to write a paper on the past and present workings of the Garden, and I was hoping that I would be able to write about its flight."

"Hmm..." Nida was thinking in the other room. "I'd have to get the Headmaster's permission first, but I'm sure it will be all right."

"Great."

"When is your paper due?" asked Nida, wondering about the timeframe that they would be working in.

"Two days." Chayn gave a nervous laugh.

"That's cutting it close. I'll see what I can do."

Chayn thanked the upper year student and quickly fell asleep.

.-.-.-.-.-

The next morning Irvine got up quickly and went on his way to the Infirmary. As he was making his way down the hall he thought that he caught a glimps of Chayn out of the corner of his eye, but he shook off the vision. It was probably a good thing that he was going to speak with the doctor, he reasoned. Maybe he would be able to clear his mind and get a fresh view on things before they could get any worse between him and Zell.

He slowly and unwillingly opened the door to Dr. Kadowaki's office and walked in.

.-.-.-.-.-

"Hey Chayn, good news." Nida burst out of the Headmaster's office. "Headmaster Cid says it's all right to let you up to the bridge to see how the Garden is flown for your paper. He just had to make a few calls to your instructors to make sure that it was necessary."

"Wonderful!" Chayn announced gleefully.

"Maybe I'll even let you fly it," Nida suggested.

"Really?" gasped Chayn.

Nida regreted the offer. "... Maybe."

The two boys went up to the bridge. Nida showed him the ins and outs of piloting the Garden and Chayn paid very close attention.

"And that's about it," concluded Nida. "Is that enough information for your paper now?"

"Actually, there is just one more thing. Let me try flying now."

Nida laughed. "Well, it's against regulation to let a SeeD-in-training fly the Garden, but just because it's you I'll let you try it."

.-.-.-.-.-

Dr. Kadowaki was continuously asking Irvine questions in the Infirmary that he wasn't so sure had much to do with his well being. What did asking if Zell had ever confided in him about any illegal activity have to do with the situation anyway?

Irvine glanced over his shoulder back at the doors to notice two Faculty members guarding them that he hadn't noticed before. It was almost as if the doctor was trying to distract him from something. "What are they doing here?" asked Irvine, indicating the Faculty.

"They are required to be here when we have a SeeD in your..." she paused, searching for the right word, "situation."

Irvine stood up in a hostile manner causing one of the Faculty members to step forward. "Situation? What's going on?" he repeated.

Dr. Kadowaki remained calm. "Sit down Irvine," she commanded firmly.

"No! Tell me what's going on or I'm leaving," he threatened.

"If you leave you will be kicked out of the Garden."

"Then I'll be kicked out. So what?" Irvine just wanted to get out of the Infirmary and talk to the Headmaster to find out what was going on. "There's something going on around here, and I'm _going _to find out what it is."

The bells sounding an announcement rang and the Headmaster's voice came into the room. "All upper year SeeDs report to my office on the third floor immediately. That's all SeeDs to the Headmaster's office immediately. All other students and SeeDs stay clear of the hallways until further notice."

Irvine, being an upper year student sprinted to the door only to be stopped by the Faculty members.

"Let me through. The Headmaster needs me!"

The Faculty didn't budge.

"Common! Something is very wrong."

The bells sounded again and the Headmaster's voice came back as if in an after thought. "Irvine Kinneas, you are ordered to stay in your location."

Irvine heard one of the Faculty members muffle a laugh under his breath.

"Come back and sit with me so we can chat some more," said the doctor.

"Like hell," Irvine muttered and made a dash for the windows, nimbly manuvering his body to the outside of the Garden and hanging on to the ledge for dear life.

The doctor and both Faculty members raced to the window after Irvine, but he had already mannaged to climb partially up the Garden. Neither of the Faculty wanted to chase after him in their long robes.

.-.-.-.-.-

Nida, Rinoa, Squall, Selphie, Quistis, and a bunch of other SeeDs had all crowded into Headmaster Cid's office talking loudly amongst themselves while waiting to receive further orders from the Headmaster.

Cid finally stood up from his desk and silenced the group. "A situation has arised and I need all of your help. Be sure to take your weapons with you; you are bound to need them."

"What is the mission?" asked one of the SeeDs near the back to the room.

"Exterminate Zell Dincht."

.-.-.-.-.-

Irvine climbed his way causiously up the side of Balamb Garden to the window of a second floor classroom. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, there was a class going on in the room. Irvine tapped on the window causing a young SeeD to look over her shoulder at him.

She looked surprised and frightened at the same time. She whirled back around in her desk and raised her hand. "Ma'am, there's a man at the window."

The instructor turned to face the windows, recognizing Irvine from another of her classes. "Let him in, please."

The young girl unlocked the window allowing Irvine to climb through the window. A young boy's eyes lit up on the other side of the room. "Hey! Is that Mr. Kinneas?"

The class watched in awe as Irvine disobeyed the Headmaster orders and disappeared out into the hallway.

"Pay no attention to him, class," warned the instructor. "He's a bad influence."

Irvine sprinted toward the elevators. As he rounded the corner he nearly knocked Rinoa over as she rounded the same corner in the opposite direction.

"Irvine!" she panted in surprise after regaining her balance. "What are you doing? The hallways are supposed to be empty, and _you_ were supposed to stay where you were."

"I know, what's going on?"

Rinoa bit her lip. "Well, you know how Life magic is becomeing more scarce?"

Irvine nodded, he had heard Raijin mention something about it before, but so what?

"Well, apparently Zell and Garold are in possession of an illegal machine that regenerates Life magic, and they are trafficing it for a high price."

"That's insane!" Irvine objected. "Zell doesn't even have enough gil for a hot dog!"

"This is why the Headmaster didn't let you in on the orders. He knew you would be to emotional to function under the pressure."

"What pressure?" asked Irvine.

"Zell..." she began with a croak, "has to pay for his actions with his life."

Irvine turned a ghostly white and felt his throat tighten. He swallowed hard, "Death?"

Rinoa looked away from Irvine to the ground. "I'm sorry." She ran past Irvine quickly.

After a moment of being lost in his thoughts, Irvine jogged to the elevator and took it up to the Headmaster's office to protest Zell's innocence.

Headmaster Cid averted his attention from Nida to Irvine when he entered the room by crashing through the door rather unexpectantly. "Irvine," Cid began in a tone of repremend, "I gave you an order to stay in the Infirmary. What are you doing here?"

"You're going to let them kill Zell!" Irvine waved his hands about frantically.

"I want you to stay out of this one."

"Make the SeeDs retreat from the mission! Zell hasn't done anything wrong."

Nida stepped forward. "Illegal objects were found in his dorm room and he hasn't been seen since. Doesn't that look a little suspicious to you?"

"No! Listen, I'm telling you, Zell didn't do it. Whatever objects you found, they can't belong to him," Irvine insisted. "It's gotta be Chayn."

"Irvine," Headmaster Cid began, "there's something you don't know about Chayn, he's-"

"No, there's something _you_ don't know about Chayn," inturrupted Irvine, "he's-"

"A spy hired by the Garden to investigate this issue while furthering his studies," Nida concluded the argument.

"What!" Irvine exclaimed after a moment of dumbfoundedness.

"We tried to have you removed from the situation, but you just don't listen." Cid shook his head with disappointment.

"But I'm here now, and I'm going to find Zell." Irvine turned on his heel and began toward the door that was now blocked by Dr. Kadowaki and the two Faculty members that he had escaped from earlier. Irvine ignored them and tried to force his way through, but couldn't manage. Then he skipped over to the windows only to find that they were sealed shut.

It looked like he would be stuck there for the time being.

.-.-.-.-.-

Zell peeked around the corner on the lower level of Balamb Garden. He had already been chased and shot at by several of his peers, including Squall, and he didn't have the slightest idea why.

Seeing that no one was around, he lept out from hiding and ran toward the elevator. Unfortunately, he hadn't realized that the elevator was on its way to his floor. The elevator dinged the arrival and out stepped Selphie.

She swiftly took out her Nunchaku upon seeing Zell. "What do you think you're going?" she interrogated.

"Selph! Not you, too? What's going on?"

"We were given orders to kill you." Selphie took a stance preparing to fight.

Zell looked confused.

"Common, why aren't you coming at me? Put your fists up and fight!"

"I'm not going to fight you," Zell said as if the very thought of them fighting was the most irrational thing he had ever heard in his life.

Selphie lowered her Nunchaku. "Aww, it won't be any fun if you aren't going to fight back. Not to mention very hard."

"You think killing me will be fun!"

Selphie crossed her arms. "Well, not any more." Then an evil glint flickered in her eyes. "Go on, I'll give you a head start." She stepped out of the way so that Zell could take the elevator.

Zell was stunned for a moment.

"Go on!" she urged.

Zell shot Selphie a sideways glance and sprinted to the elevator, riding it up.

Selphie watched as the numbers of floors rose and stopped at three. She took out a walkie-talkie. "Selphie to Headmaster. Zell is on the third floor, and I'm going after him."

Zell got out on the third floor and quickly took a second elevator up the the bridge, surprised to see that Chayn was piloting the Garden.

Chayn, upon hearing the elevator, turned around to face Zell. "Do not come any closer." He pulled out a dagger that he had been holding on to for protection, and pointed it at Zell with a shaky hand.

Zell, being swift with the fists managed to disarm Chayn quickly. He pointed the younger boy's dagger back at him. "Tell me what's going on."

"I do not know." Chayn put his hands up in defeat.

Zell smirked and shook his head, not believeing what he was being told.

Selphie arrived at the bridge. Zell looked over his shoulder and made a snap decision. He moved behind Chayn and held the dagger to his throat, twisting his arm so that he wouldn't be able to slip away.

Selphie put her hands on her hips. "You aren't playing by the rules, Zell."

"Enough playing. Chayn and I are getting off of this Garden, now."

"It's your funeral." Selphie shrugged, stepping aside for Zell to pass.

He and Chayn took the elevators to the first floor and stepped quickly toward the enterance.

Headmaster Cid and a group of Faculty members stepped off of the elevator after them. "Zell, you'll regret it if you step off of this Garden," warned the Headmaster.

Zell turned around to face them. "Don't I even get to know what is going on anymore?"

"Enough with the games, Zell. You know exactly what you did."

"Is this about that hotdog? The cafeteria lady said she'd put it on my tab! Go ask her yourself."

"That's not funny." One of the Faculty members shook a fist in Zell's direction.

"If no one is going to tell me what's going on, I'll just take Chayn here and return him after he decides to fill me in."

Another Faculty member was about to object, but Headmaster Cid stopped him and they watched as Zell left the Garden with Chayn at his side.

.-.-.-.-.-

Zell walked through a forest, hoping to loose anyone from Balamb Garden who might be following them, and crossed a grassy field, stopping a short distance away from a ledge.

"Alright Chayn," Zell turned the boy to face him, their eyes met at the same level, "spill it."

"Alright," Chayn agreed, "right after you tell me where the rest of the illegal parts are for the Life regenerator."

"Illegal parts for the what?"

"The possession of Life regenerator," repeated Chayn. "Are you suggesting that you have other parts as well? How long have you been working with Garold now?"

"Garold? I haven't been working on anything with that guy," Zell protested.

"Oh, so are you suggesting that you found all of those parts that were in your room yourself? I did not suspect that you were so clever. I knew we should have hooked up."

"I didn't find any parts of anything! I don't know what you're talking about," Zell asserted.

"Come now, Zell. We could be partners. All you have to do is tell me where the parts are. Is it realy worth dying for?"

Zell remained silent, refusing to repeat himself again.

"Well then, perhaps I can force it out of you." Chayn manuvered himself into a Tai Chi-like stance. A raven, seeming to have appeared out of no where, swooped down between him and Zell, removing the dagger from Zell's grasp before he could even blink.

The raven passed the dagger on back to its original owner. Chayn slipped gracefully behind Zell and held the dagger to his throat. "It looks as though the tides have changed Honey Lips." He walked Zell closer to the edge.

"Chayn, you'll never get away with this," Zell warned, pulling back as far away from the blade as he could.

"They will not even look at me twice. We were told to kill you at first sight. You are wrong if you think that anyone will care about what I do to you?"

"Irvine will..."

.-.-.-.-.-

Irvine snarled at the Faculty members keeping him in the Headmaster's office. He passed back and forth, trying to force his brain to think of a way to get his out of there.

"Stop moving, you!" ordered one of the Faculty, becoming nervous in the presence of the tall man.

Irvine clenched his fist at his side and forced himself to keep his cool. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Suddenly, the room began to disintegrate around him. Tiny bits of the wall flew up and disappeared into thin air. The Faculty members images flickered and then shut off like a television screen.

Irvine found himself standing in the middle of the endless blue-carpeted corridor from his haunting dream. Fearing that his worst nightmare was about to come true, Irvine raced down the corridor in pursuit of the end.

The walls of the corridor also disintegrated and Irvine found himself running through a familiar grassy field toward a figure that had appeared on the horizon. As he ran his feet got ahead of him and he stumbled downward to fall face to face with a large alligator. The creature growled lowly. Irvine jumped up and continued running to his destination.

He approached the edge causiously where Chayn and Zell were standing, Chayn with his back to him. He tip-toed closer to them, trying not to make a sound.

The raven soared above the three at the cliff and squawked frantically.

Chayn looked up first at the warning and then over his shoulder at Irvine. "What are you doing here? It does not matter. You are too late to do anything, leave now."

Zell's body tensed as he felt the dagger being pushed by Chayn right up against his throat. He felt a trickle of blood run down his skin.

"Let Zell go," Irvine spoke soothingly, while taking baby-steps toward Chayn with his hands out to show that he meant no harm.

"No!" Chayn refused like a child. "If I cannot have him then neither will you." Chayn pushed Zell up to the ledge of the cliff.

Zell struggled to keep his footing as tiny pebbles and bits of dirt spilled over the edge.

Irvine felt himself begin to panic, but he forced the feeling down. He lept at Chayn and pulled him to the ground. The dagger dropped a few feet away from them.

Zell waved his arms around frantically to regain his balance on top to the ledge.

Irvine pushed himself off of the shorter boy, drew back his fist, and punched him across the face.

"Irvine!" Zell called. The ground beneath his feet gave way and he slipped from the edge.

Irvine jumped up and raced to the edge of the cliff. He leaned over to see Zell dangling from a root that he had managed to cling onto. He reached out a hand and called out to Zell to grab onto it.

Zell reached up with an arm to find that he was only a few inches too far away.

Irvine stretched further. The tips of their fingers touched momentarily. Irvine heard a noise to his right. He looked over to see Chayn coming at him with the dagger.

He rolled over promptly to avoid being stabbed, as Chayn's dagger came down. Irvine scrambled to his feet while Chayn removed the dagger from the ground.

The younger boy grinned happily at Irvine and swiped the dagger at him a few times. Irvine narrowly avoided it by jumping out of the way.

Zell pulled himself up on top of the branch which bent to its limit under his weight. He jumped up to the egde of the cliff and strained to pull himself over. The branch below him snapped and fell to the ground that must have been hundreds of feet below him.

"Zell!" Irvine took a step toward his friend, but Chayn appeared between them. Irvine stopped and furrowed his brows.

Chayn gave a crooked smile and stepped over to Zell. He looked back at Irvine with a glare. "Now you can watch your little boyfriend fall to his death." He stabbed at Zell's hand on the ledge. Zell moved his hand out of the way, leaving him only one arm to rely on to hold him up.

Chayn withdrew the dagger and stabbed at Zell's remaining hand, jabbing through it with ease.

Zell let out a yelp and struggled to hold onto the cliff with his remaining hand.

Chayn, obviously having forgot about Ivrine momentarily, cringed as Irvine's pointed cowboy boot made contact with his ribs. The shorter boy toppled over clutching his side.

Irvine looked down at the boy with emotionless eyes before returning to Zell, and helping him over the cliff and into the grass. Then he turned back to Chayn. "Why did you do this?"

"It was my... mission," Chayn spoke with each word becoming more laborous to get out.

"You were the one that planted those illegal items in Zell's dorm, weren't you?" Irvine knelt down and shook Chayn by the collar of his shirt. "Weren't you?" he demanded.

"Yes, it was me," Chayn confessed. "If you had not have been snooping around, the plan would have succeeded and I would have been rich."

"Is that all you were in it for?"

Chayn was silent.

Irvine pushed him rather violently in the ribs. Chayn shuddered and curled into a ball. "Yes, that was all."

"Except for your obession with Zell."

"No." Chayn smiled serenely. "I was not in it for that, though it was a rather pleasant surprise in the deal."

"They are going to lock you away for a very long time."

"That is where you are wrong, you still cannot prove that I have done anything."

"Ahh... see, that is where _you_ are wrong." Irvine pulled the monitor from Garold out of his jacket. "I just caught everything that you just confessed to on tape."

Chayn let his head fall to the ground in defeat.

A group of Balamb Garden Faculty appeared in the distance. Irvine moved back to Zell who was clutching his hand. "My fist! It's my only weapon! I'll never be able to fight again!" he panicked.

Irvine wrapped his arms around Zell's waist. "You'll be fine," he assured.

.-.-.-.-.-

End of Part XIX.


	20. Part XX

**Disclaimer:** (See Part I.)

**A/N:** Chayn is a character that I made up, along with Buzz and Garold, and anyone else that I throw into this story who have nothing to do with FF8 whatsoever; I own nothing else but the plot of this story.

**To my readers:** Here it is:drumroll: The final chappy! I'm so proud that we've made it this far together. Hope you've had as much fun reading this as I've had writing it. I've actually been having thoughts about a sequal so let me know if anyone is interested in that. I think it would be darker than this and much more serious, or it could go completely the other way be all cute fluffiness. Or it could just not happen. Anyway, thanks for all the support. Luv!

-----

After having proven Zell's innocence the excitement at Balamb Garden leveled out and things returned to what was releatively normal. Chayn had admitted to attempting to claim the Life regenerator items for himself, and was awaiting a trial date in which he would undoubtably receive a lenghty sentence.

Garold was questioned and released back into the Garden community as no one could find any evidence against him in regards to the Life regenerator.

Headmaster Cid admitted that he had been worng not to believe Irvine from the start, and had withdrew any previous orders for Irvine and Zell to be ban from the Garden.

Irvine's pre-lunch class was released a few minutes early. He went to the cafeteria early in hopes to get there before the usual line had formed. He planned on surprising Zell by bringing some hotdogs to his dorm room where he was hiding out.

The first time that Zell had been released from the Infirmary, after having extensive work done to repair his hand, Selphie had threatened to kill him anyway, and Squall had acted strange around him, perhaps because he had shot at Zell with his Gunblade. Zell didn't want to be faced with the maniac or the mopey SeeD, so he made like his condition was worse than it was and got Dr. Kadowaki to write him a note allowing him to stay out of class for a while. He didn't see the point in going anyway; he couldn't use his hand to take notes while it was healing.

While Irvine waited in the line of three students that had gotten there before him for their hotdogs, he glanced around the cafeteria. There weren't many people there, but he did notice Selphie at one of the tables working on some homework with a female Trepe Groupie whose back was turned to him.

Selphie looked up from her papers to the groupie, and noticed Irvine over her study partner's shoulder.

Their eyes met for a split second; Irvine was the first one to look away. He didn't want her thinking that he had been watching her, but he couldn't help himself. He looked back.

Selphie, to Irvine's surprise, smiled and waved to him.

Irvine blinked before holding up a hand giving a quick wave back.

"Hey man, the line's moving." A SeeD poked Irvine in the back.

Irvine bought the hotdogs for Zell and went to his dorm room. He knocked on the door.

"It's open," Zell muttered, barely loud enough to be heard.

Irvine walked into the messy dorm and saw Zell sitting at his window mournfully looking out on the world. His chin was resting on his good hand, and he appeared not to have bothered putting on his shirt as he was only wearing his vest that was not even buttoned up at that. Judging from the growing piles of laundry on the floor, Irvine assumed that he was wearing only the vest because none of his other clothes were clean.

"With all this junk on the floor, you might fall and break your arm. Then what would you do?" Irvine tried to cheer him up, but his teasing was met with a heavy sigh.

Irvine took a step into the room. "I have something for you..." he coaxed.

"Just leave it on the table." Zell's gaze remained out the window.

Irvine chuckled. "Not even a thank you or a greeting for your buddy, but the gift! ... That you'll take."

"Sorry... Hi Irvine, thanks." Zell's voice was monotone.

Irvine placed the paper bag containing the hotdogs on the only clear space on a small table and walked over to the window. "What's the matter?"

Zell glanced up at Irvine, then to his bandaged hand that was wrapped to about the size of a small cantaloupe. "Look at it! It's nearly the size of a beachball!" he exaggerated.

"Aww..." Irvine pouted in mock sympathy. "Would it feel better if I kissed it?" he asked in a baby voice. He leaned over and kissed the top of the bandage.

Zell looked up at the taller man like he had gone nuts. He sniffed the air and his eyes lit up. "Did you bring me HOTDOGS!"

Irvine grinned and watched as Zell raced to the table and tore open the paper bag with one hand, not even bothering to sit down. He forced two hotdogs into his mouth at the same time. Then he looked back at his friend. "You don't want one, do you?"

Irvine laughed at the question that obviously had a prefered answer. "No, you go ahead." Irvine sat down on the squeaky couch opposite to Zell, and watched as he gobbled up all five of the hotdogs that he had brought him.

Zell felt like he could probably down a few more. "Those were delicious!" he announced, finally finding a moment to sit down on the couch next to Irvine.

"It seems so. They made you forget about your hand pretty fast."

"My what?" he squinted at Irvine in confusion. "Oh yeah..."

Irvine rolled his eyes. "And you wanted people to believe that you're in extreme agony so that you can stay this dump and laze around all day?"

Zell grinned widely.

"You goon." Irvine grabbed the nearest dirty shirt belonging to Zell that had been strewn over the arm rest of the couch and threw it at Zell. It hit him in the face and fell into his lap. He looked stunned for a second.

"Hey man! That's not cool," he whinned.

"What's not cool is you getting to miss class while I have to suffer. I'm the one who's in real pain here."

Being caught guilty, Zell looked downward and smiled.

Irvine watched the shorter boy in a voyeuristic fashion, taking in every visual aspect of him. The top of his messed up spikey head, the tip of his nose, and his bare chest beneath his unbuttoned vest.

Returning his eyes to Irvine who hadn't yet noticed that he was being watched, Zell stared back.

Irvine looked up to Zell's face and reddened slightly having been caught staring. "Anyway," he began, putting a hand into the pocket of his pants, "the instructor asked me to give you some page numbers to read from the..." Irvine paused and watched Zell reposition himself to better face the tall boy, noticing that he had become particularily interested in what Irvine was saying.

The shorter boy leaned in closer to Irvine, so close that Irvine felt like he might have something stuck to his face. Zell removed Irvine's cowboy hat from his head and stared deeply into his confused blue eyes. Then he threw the hat carelessly to the left like a frisbee, cupped Irvine's jaw in his good hand, and kissed him fircely on the lips.

"...text book," Irvine breathed the rest of his sentence. He pulled a small paper out of his pocket with several page numbers on it that Zell was supposed to read.

There was a moment of silence between the two.

Not taking his eyes off of Zell for a second, Irvine crumpled up the paper and tossed it over his shoulder before leaping at Zell. The springs of the couch squeaked under their weight as they went down together.

Zell was sprinkled across his face with a shower of kisses. Irvine planted them all the day down his throat and chest, causing Zell to arch his neck. He hastily pushed Zell's vest aside to continue the trail. Zell yelped as his injured hand was squished between Irvine's shoulder and the couch.

Irvine immediately pulled back, breathing heavily. "What's wrong?"

"You squished my hand!" He made it sound as if Irvine had run over his favourite dog.

"I'm so sorry," Irvine spoke only half concerned. He moved Zell's hand out of the way and continued where he had previously left off.

A few moments later, Zell was wearing only his hotdog-print boxers, and Irvine was down to his pants, and if it weren't for the loud squeaks of the couch, they would have heard the knocking on the door.

"Hello? Zell? I'm coming in." Rinoa strode into the room as if she'd been there a million times before.

Zell ceased undoing Irvine's belt with his teeth and stared, horrified, at Rinoa standing in the room.

She blinked a few times.

Zell turned a ripe tomato red.

"This is awkward..." Irvine commented.

"Well, don't let me stop you." She waved her hand at them to show that they could continue. "I just came by to give Zell this 'Get Well Soon' gift." She held up an unidentifiable object made of metal that looked somewhat dangerous and like she had handcrafted it herself in a welding class. She put it on the table. "Not that he needs it anymore." She winked at the two boys before leaving with a laugh.

Zell jumped up and locked the door behind her before any more intrusions could occur. He turned back to the room and made a face at the gift on his table. It was ugly in an intriguing sort of way. He couldn't take his eyes off of it.

"What IS that?" Irvine voiced the question that they had both been wondering.

Zell shrugged.

Irvine pat the couch between his legs, inviting Zell to come back and sit with him.

Zell complied and curled up in Irvine's lap like a small child.

Irvine wrapped his arms around the boy. "There's something I've been wanting to say to you for a long time."

Zell raised his eyebrows in question. "Hm?"

"I've wanted to say that, that day at the cliff... I was really worried about you. I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost you. I haven't had the chance yet to tell you."

"What's that?" asked Zell.

"How much you mean to me." Irvine lowered his voice. "I love you, and I'd do anything for you. Just, don't go falling off any more cliffs, okay?"

Zell smiled and looked up at Irvine. "What do you mean? I thought you liked being my big, strong protector?"

"I do," stated Irvine, "when I can do it while you're on solid ground."

Zell nestled his head into Irvine's chest. "Don't worry, I promise I won't do it again."

"Good." Irvine kissed the top of Zell's spikey head.

-----

Meanwhile, in a prision located a far distance away from Balamb Garden, Chayn sat in a windowless cell, writing a name in the dust gathered on the floor.

Someone in a cell down the row moaned, while another shouted and cursed at no one in particular.

Chayn focused on the dust. His back was to the barred door so he didn't notice the guard approaching.

The guard tapped on the bars. "You, what are you doing?" he asked suspiciously.

Chayn ignored the guard and continued to doodle.

"Hey, I asked you a question." The guard unlocked the door and stepped into the cell. He violently pushed Chayn aside, knocking him into the wall. He looked down at the floor, not noticing the name in the dust. He kicked the dust around madly causing it to look like a small explosion had gone off in the small space.

Chayn looked up at the guard with annoyance as he left the cell and locked the door behind him. He waited until the guard walked further down the row to check on the hysterical screamer before he pushed himself off of the wall and crouched back in the place where he had been writing in the dust.

The dust had settled quickly and Chayn retraced the name in the dust, whispering it to himself. "Zell."

-----

The End.


End file.
